Dorothy Dorothy Photograph Collection (PH-00131)

Dorothy Dorothy was born on February 17, 1899 to James "Buck" Buchanan Richardson and Lulu Cooley in California. In her adolescence, she performed in a singing troupe that travelled throughout northern California. Dorothy eventually gave up singing after having multiple throat surgeries. She then wrote song lyrics under the name Dorothy Varnum. Dorothy attended San Francisco College and after graduation opened her own brokerage firm. Dorothy took flying lessons at Mills Field in San Francisco, California and subsequently earned her pilot’s license. She was acquainted with Amelia Earhart, who organized an association of female pilots. Dorothy was a member of this group, known as the "Flying 99's," and was actively involved in the local chapter while living in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the 1930s, Dorothy worked as a comptometer operator in the statistical department of Shell Oil Company. After an injury to her back, she moved to Palm Springs, California where her sister, Beth Chase, lived. During her recovery, she wrote columns for local newspapers. After the beginning of World War II, she returned to work. She married John Moore MacAdam in 1943, but he died in 1945. She married Dale B. Dorothy in the late 1940s and the couple established residency in Las Vegas, Nevada. Dorothy wrote a daily column for the Las Vegas Review-Journal in Las Vegas from 1946 to 1948.

In 1949 the Dorothys bought a 1,400 acre alfalfa and cotton farm in Pahrump, Nevada. She actively promoted the establishment of infrastructure in Pahrump such as roads, telephones, and electricity. Dorothy successfully lobbied local and state politicians to improve the road to Pahrump. A paved road to Pahrump from Las Vegas was opened in 1954 and citizens of Pahrump held a city-wide gathering near the road to celebrate this achievement.

From 1949 to 1958 Dorothy wrote a weekly column for the Las Vegas Sun. She also wrote for the Tonopah Times and the Henderson Home News.

Dorothy organized and served as the first president of the Women's Democratic Club of Whitney, Nevada. She worked with Virginia Catt and Gladys Dula to organize the Boulder City, Nevada Democratic Club, and with Sara Denton to organize the Blue Diamond, Nevada Democratic Club. Later Dorothy established a Democratic Club chapter in Pahrump, Nevada.

In 1958, the Dorothys migrated from Pahrump back to Las Vegas. During the presidential election of 1960, Dorothy helped campaign for the Democratic nominees and future presidents, John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson. Throughout the remaining years of Dorothy's life she was actively involved in a variety of local civic organizations and societies.

Dorothy Dorothy died on October 31, 1986.

Source:

Dorothy Dorothy papers, approximately 1913-1986. MS-00352. Special Collections and Archives, University Libraries, University of Nevada, Las Vegas. Las Vegas, Nevada.