Dora D "Dee" (Dow) Rutherford

Dora Bradbury (Dow) Rutherford, 96 passed away peacefully Friday August 1, 2025, at a Michigan health care facility.  Dee was born December 21, 1928, to Augustus and Lena (Marquis) Dow in Fort Kent, Maine.  She attended high school in Fort Kent.  She also attended Ricker Jr. College in Houlton, Maine.  Dee was a US Navy Hospital corpsman serving as a W.A.V.E. during the Korean War, when she met her future husband who was also a  hospital corpsman and a lab technician in the US Navy.  He was transferred to Camp Lejeune, North Carolina with the Fleet Marines where he became disabled and spent many months in the hospital before being discharged.  After both were honorably discharged from the military, they returned to Tennessee and married there.

Dee moved back to Fort Kent to enroll at the Fort Kent Campus of the University of Maine using the GI bill.  She earned a teaching certificate and moved to Toledo and taught in the Washington Local School District in Northwood/Greenwood Elementary School from 1962-1988.  She went to the University of Toledo, while teaching at Greenwood, to complete her Bachelor of Science degree.  Later, in 1976, she completed a Masters of Education from UT.  After retiring from teaching in 1988, Dee worked at Flanders Road Church of Christ for twenty-five years as church secretary, retiring in 2014.  During her working years, she raised 4 sons.  She was also a member of Toledo Gold Star Wives, serving terms as president and secretary. She was a woman of inner strength, faith and determination. 

Dee was preceded in death by her parents;  Stepmother, Elsie Dow; husband, Raymond Rutherford; sons, Raymond Jr. and Randy; brothers, Henry Dow, Drew Dow, and Ralph Dow; sister, Doris Andrews; and granddaughter, Rachel Rutherford.

Survivors are sons, David Rutherford, of Ohio, Dan (Marcia) Rutherford of Michigan, grandson, Bradley (Janis) Rutherford and their children Cobie and Brodie of Arizona, granddaughters, Erin (Rob Fitzgerald) and their children, Brooke, Brynn and Brady of Ohio, Ranae Rutherford of Colorado, brother, Allan (Pat) Dow of Maine, daughter-in-law, Kayleen Rutherford of Florida as well as many nieces and nephews.

A private graveside service was held at Toledo Memorial Park, Sylvania, Ohio. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Dee’s church, Flanders Road Church of Christ, 5230 Flanders Road, Toledo, Ohio 43623 or Gold Star Wives of America, Inc., PO Box 361986, Birmingham, AL 35236. Online condolences to reebfuneralhome.com

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Dora D "Dee" (Dow) Rutherford, please visit our floral store.