In 1925, Edward Leon and Lauretta Goodall-Guenveur, graduates of the Avery Normal Institute – the first accredited secondary school for African Americans in Charleston, South Carolina, purchased 57 Coming Street, located two blocks from the College of Charleston’s Randolph Hall. The house, which had originally been built in 1772 and then reconstructed using the original home’s timbers in 1884, served as the base for the independent plumbing business the Guenveurs founded and the home for their five children: Florence Louise (Louise), Helen, Anna Mae, Edward Leon Jr. and Loretta Ruth.? 

With Edward Leon as the master plumber and Lauretta as the office manager, the family plumbing business thrived. Their timing couldn’t have been better as many households and businesses in Charleston needed indoor plumbing installed.

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As an homage to their parents’ passion for their neighborhood and the power of education, in 2000, Streat and her siblings established the Edward Leon Guenveur, Sr. and Lauretta Goodall-Guenveur Endowed Memorial Scholarship. The scholarship, which honors the value the Guenveurs placed on education and hard work, is awarded to a rising CofC senior from Charleston County who has maintained the highest academic average after three consecutive years.

“The generosity of Louise Guenveur Streat and her brother and sisters honors not only the memory of their parents but also demonstrates their own conviction to supporting scholarship and education for students from the Lowcountry,” said then College of Charleston President Alex Sanders. “We have made tremendous progress since the days when none of them, despite obvious talents and abilities, would have been able even to apply to the College of Charleston.”

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