Dora (Danks) Rutherford

Dora Lillian Danks was born 26 August 1890 and married Ernest Rutherford on 23 March 1917. She had two children, Betty, born in 1919, and Stuart James, born in 1921.

Dora and Ernest, c1936

She lived in Montreal, Que for most of her life from the family's arrival in 1931 to the early 1980s when she moved to Waterloo, Ontario to be close to her son Jim. Betty was living in Calgary, Alberta at that time and Dora deemed that to be too big a move for her at that time.

Dora came from a rather large family, three brothers and two sisters that we know of. Her sisters were Maud and Kathleen. Maud was much older, and was being cared for by Kathleen, the youngest girl, until Maud’s death. At that time, Kathleen made plans to come to Canada to visit Dora and the family in Calgary, but was struck by a car and died just weeks before leaving.

Apparently some family feud had sundered relationships, because Uncle Tom (that is, Betty’s uncle) would have nothing to do with Dora’s grandchildren. Uncle Byl (C.L. Danks) in Bexhill, however was still interested in Dora's side of the family. Betty's Uncle Teddy, who lived in San Francisco, reportedly had a particularly jaundiced view of Dull Dora and Earnest Ernest.

Dora outlived Ernest by 31 years, dying in 1986. She was 96 years old.