Dora Russell (1912-1986)

27. Opposite the Templeton Centre is #275, the former site of the St. John's Evening Telegram building.

Dora Russell was born in Change Islands, educated at Bishop Spencer School and studied for two years at Teacher's Summer School after Grade 11. She began teaching in St. Mary's Church of England School, Southside in St. John's in 1933, but resigned when she married writer, teacher and politician Ted Russell in 1935. For the next ten years, Dora lived in various rural communities with her husband, who was a magistrate.

In 1945, Dora Russell became the first woman's editor of the Evening Telegram newspaper in St. John's. During her four years with the paper, she wrote many columns, editorials, and fictional pieces - all from a woman's perspective. In her work, she supported local women in political, business, volunteer and domestic roles, and stressed the activities of the local women's community. She profiled many local women in her column, 'Woman of the Week'.

The Former Evening Telegram Building
The Former Evening Telegram Building
275 Duckworth Street, St. John's, NL
Photo by Duleepa Wijayawardhana, 1998.

With the advent of the Confederation debates in the late 1940s, Dora resigned from the Evening Telegram in a disagreement over the newspaper's political position. She continued to write, producing plays for radio and television, short fiction and a book.

Dora (Oake) Russell, n.d.
Dora (Oake) Russell, n.d.
From the Encyclopedia of Newfoundland and Labrador, Vol. IV (St. John's: Newfoundland Book Publishers (1967) Limited, 1993) 659. Print.

Never one to be idle, Dora continued to care for her family of five children while interesting herself in studies of astronomy and music, and the work of the Girl Guides, The Jubilee Guilds and St. Thomas' Anglican Church. She was a founding member of the local branch of the Royal Astronomical Society.

Dora was awarded the Queen's Silver Jubilee Medal in 1977 for her work with the Girl Guides.

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