Independent Enterprise
Wednesday, March 23, 1983
Docia Melissa Elms
Services for Docia Melissa Elms, 96, Fruitland, who died Saturday, March 19, 1983, at a Payette nursing home, were conducted Monday at the New Plymouth Shaffer-Jensen Chapel, by Rev. Earl Traughber of the New Plymouth Congregational Church. Interment followed at the Kennedy Cemetery, New Plymouth.
She was born March 18, 1887 in St. Joe, Arkansas, the daughter of Mary and A.C. Lawrence. She married Oscar Rutherford March 25, 1908 in Vale. They farmed in Ironside and New Plymouth until her husband died in 1956. She married Millis Elms in 1957 in Winnemucca. They lived in Unity, Ore. until 1965, when they moved to New Plymouth. Her husband died in 1968. She moved to Fruitland in 1976.
She is survived by two sons, Preston Rutherford, Portland, and Raymond Rutherford of Fruitland; one daughter, Lillian Lesh, Chehalis, Wash.; one brother, John Lawrence, Vale; one sister, Rosa Cowen, Tulare, Calif.; 25 grandchildren, 35 great-grandchildren, eight great-great grandchildren; and numerous nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by two sons.
