Dorothy Rutherford, age 83
Mrs. Dorothy Rutherford, age 83, a well known and highly respected Smith County business women died peacefully Thursday afternoon Nov. 13, 2008 while sitting in her chair at her Jackson Avenue home.
She was pronounced dead at the former Carthage General Hospital, which her husband, the late Dr. Frank T. Rutherford founded in 1966. Funeral services from the Carthage Church of Christ were conducted Sunday afternoon at 2 p.m. by her minister, Edward L. Anderson. Burial followed in the Rutherford family lot in Smith County Memorial Gardens. One of five children, she was born Dorothy Counts in the Elora Community of Lincoln County near Fayetteville, TN and was the daughter of the late Andrew Jackson and Bessie Leona Donaldson Counts. She met Frank Theodore Rutherford of Fountain City while they were students at the University of Tennessee. After Dr. Rutherofrd graduated from U.T. they relocated to Memphis where he earned his medical degree. They were married in Huntsville, Alabama on November 23, 1946. He preceded her in death on July 29, 1982 at the age of 58. They were preceded in death by an infant son who died at birth on Oct. 1, 1959 and by another son, David Rutherford who died July 11, 1997 at the age of 41. A faithful Christian lady, mother and grandmother, she was a member of the Carthage Church of Christ and supported financially and through her prayers and many mission and benevolent works of the Church of Christ in Smith County and in Central America. She especially had a fondness in her heart for Jackson- Smith Youth Camp which is located in Holland, Kentucky where many young people have been baptized into Christ. Mrs. Rutherford was a 1943 graduate of Lincoln County High School and attended the University of Tennessee. After the death of her husband she became administrator of Carthage General Hospital and continued in that position until Dr. Rick graduated from medical school and returned to the hospital. Surving are two children, Cathy Rutherford Spivey of Carthage; Dr. Rick Rutherford and wife Beckie of Watervale; eight grandchildren, Jerry Wasson, Any Rutherford, Teddy Spivey, Zach and Jacob Bass, Cassie, Sarah and Matthew Rutherford, sister, Lillian Marty and husband Sheldon Of Meridianville, AL. The family requests memorials to the Jackson- Smith Youth Camp.
