Miss DOROTHY CONNER,
Saloon Class Passenger
image:
Medford Sun, 1 June
1915.
Courtesy Mike Poirier.
Dorothy Conner, 25, was born on 15 September 1890 in New Albany,
Indiana, United States. Her father had attended Yale, but
withdrew "because of family circumstance." Her mother had never
attended college. The Conners moved to Rye, New York where the
family lived on Boston Post Road. Dorothy had a cousin and two
sisters who went to Wellesley College in Wellesley,
Massachusetts. Cousin Candie Stimson graduated from Wellesley in
1892. Dorothy's older sister Julia Allen Conner was Wellesley's
class of 1892 or 93, the records are unclear. She later married
into noblilty and became Lady Reckitt. Another sister, Katharine
Conner, was Wellesley's class of 1894 and 95. Katharine took one
year abroad in Europe and later married Dr.
Howard Lowrie Fisher of Washington, D.C. Dorothy followed in
their footsteps and, after attending a private secondary school, became
a graduate
of Wellesley College, a member of the class
of 1912.
At Wellesley, Dorothy was a member of Phi Sigma, and the Pie Eaters
Eating Club, Simple Simon. During Dorothy's first semester of her
sophomore year, she and fellow classmate Nell Zuckerman (later Cohen)
were "non-students" because they had failed their exams the previous
June. Dorothy's senior year, she took part in the play Sherwood where she was on
the committee of costumes and wigs. Dorothy received her B.A. in
history that June.
The first few years after graduation, Dorothy moved to Medford, Oregon,
United States. In 1915, she was a Red Cross volunteer traveling
on the Lusitania with her
brother-in-law Dr. Howard Fisher. She had bought her ticket in
New York City.
Her and Dr. Fisher's purpose for traveling on the Lusitania
to establish a hospital somewhere in France. They had talked with
Marie Depage about the possibility of
joining forces to aid the soldiers in La Panne, France with Marie's
husband,
Dr. Antoine Depage. Dorothy's cabin was E-63. Howard's was
E-50.
Throughout the crossing Dorothy had been complaining about the dullness
of the trip. The morning of Friday, 7 May, being foggy with the
ship's horn going off at intervals, wasn't helping. She confessed:
"It's been such a dull, dreary, stupid trip. I can't help
hoping that we'll get some kind of thrill going up the channel." (Hoehling/Hoehling,
102)
Dorothy and Howard had arrived very late for lunch that Friday.
Their table companions, suffragette Margaret, Lady Mackworth and
Liberal Member of Parliament David Alfred
Thomas, were finishing a cup of coffee, and D. A. Thomas was
teasing Dorothy about the statement she had made earlier.
Margaret and D. A. then excused themselves as Dorothy waited for
Howard to finish his lunch.
Then the torpedo hit. Howard and Dorothy went up to A-deck
portside to see what was the matter when Margaret Mackworth joined
them, asking if she could stay with them until she sighted her father.
Noting the disorder in the loading and lowering of lifeboats,
they exchanged some of the most famous of known Lusitania
quotes.
Margaret Mackworth: "I always thought that I shipwreck was
a well-organized affair."
Dorothy Conner: "So did I, but I've learnt a devil of
a lot in the last five minutes."
They then saw a lifeboat go almost perpendicular, spilling out half
its load. The boat, however, did not capsize and the remaining
occupants scrambled back aboard.
Howard, realizing that he and Dorothy didn't have lifebelts, went back
down to fetch them. As he left, the ship righted slightly and an
authoritative voice boomed, "The gates have closed and the ship is not
sinking." Dorothy and Margaret laughed and shook hands and
Margaret said, "I guess you've had your thrill. "
"And I never want another." Dorothy replied.
When Howard returned, he was wet. His and Dorothy's cabins on
E-deck were already submerged and he had to wade through deep water on
D-deck to get the lifebelts. This news stunned the ladies back
into
action.
The three planned to jump from the ship, after seeing that lifeboats
were not the safest way to evacuate the liner. Howard squeezed
though an open space on deck, and Dorothy climbed over the rail to
jump. Margaret was hesitant and was swept off the ship when the
water rose up to meet her.
Dorothy was caught on something and resigned herself to drowning. She
eventually found herself on a boat. One of her regrets was that she
lost a favorite ring that she had on her finger.
Upon arrival in Queenstown she was assigned to a room with five other
women. She asked for a hot bath and toddy; hours later,
and elderly woman presented her a small bowl of water, a bottle of cold
lemon soda, and, "as a bonus, a lecture on selfishness"
(Hoehling/Hoehling,
216).
Dorothy visited Lady Mackworth in Queenstown before their parties
parted ways. Dorothy had not done as Margaret did during the
sinking and unhook her skirt. When they met again in the Queen's
Hotel,
Dorothy was still wearing the same fawn tweed suit, and she told
Margaret
that Howard was safe. Lady Mackworth and D. A. Thomas went home
to Wales; Dorothy and Howard continued on to work on the battlefields
of France. There, Dorothy set up a hospital with her sister,
Julia, Lady Reckitt, and received the Croix de Guerre from the French
Government for her canteen and hospital work.
Dorothy recieved a First Aid Diploma, and from her 1917 alumni book she
writes, "This is very embarrasing. I haven't even taught Sunday
school. I have no occupation, but I am very, very busy." In
fact, throughout Dorothy's life she would never be employed.
In 1922, Dorothy lived at 11 Pell Street in Newport, Rhode
Island. The next year, Dorothy married Greene Williams Dugger,
Naval Officer USN retired. Greene was a graduate of the United
States Naval Academy in Annapolis. They lived on the West Coast,
Washington, and the Orient where their son, John Stark (later
Atterbury) Dugger, was born on 8 September 1924. He later
attended St. Albans and Deerfield Academy. He went on to graduate
from the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, like his
father. A daughter, Mary Anne, was born to them on 5 October
1929. Mary Anne attended the National Cathedral School for girls,
At. Agnes School, and graduated from Wellesley in 1951. Mary Anne
later went on to be employed by the state department and married Joseph
Lordan of Framingham, Massachusetts.
by 1932, Dorothy had traveled China, and commuted transcontinental
dashes between her residence at 3236 34th Street in Washington, D.C.
and Long Beach, California, and Bremerton, Washington. Her
children learned how to speak French fluently. She visited a
friend Anne Christensen Dew in Wyoming and camped in British Columbia
by 1937.
Tragedy befell the Dugger family when Greene contracted an illness in
Honolulu and died at the Mare Island Hospital on 25 August 1941.
Afterwards, she moved out of her old house and into 1604 Oakcrest Drive
in Alexandria, Virginia, and then 2910 R Street, N.W. in Georgetown,
D.C.
In 1952, with Mary Anne graduated and John going off to Russia as a
naval attaché, Dorothy writes in her class book, "What is there
for me to do but to take off too! Destination undecided at
present, but probably Europe first." Her children's jobs allowed
her to visit Russia, Vietnam, Finland, England, and other places.
Otherwise, she lived alone.
Among her community activities were Community Chest (United Fund), Red
Cross, Scouts/Campfire Girls, Navy Relief during World War II, PTA,
League of Women Voters, Garden Clubs, Colonial Dames of America
(Chapter III, of which she was vice-president), Planned Parenthood,
women's group at her church, and the Washington Wellesley Club.
Her cultural pursuits included attending the theater and concerts,
going to museums, and traveling.
Dorothy died on Wednesday, 9 August 1967, at the Bethesda Naval
Hospital in Maryland. She was 76 and had two grandchildren at the
time of her death. Memorial services were held at Christ
Episcopal Church in Georgetown, 31st and O Streets, N.W., on Friday 11
August. She was interned at Oakhill Cemetery. Contributions
at her wake given to the American Cancer Society.
Contributors:
Michael Poirier
Wilma Slaight
Judith Tavares
References:
Ballard, Dr. Robert D. with Spencer Dunmore. Exploring
the Lusitania. Warner Books, Inc., 1995.
Hickey, Des and Gus Smith. Seven Days
to Disaster. G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1981.
Hoehling, A. A. and Mary Hoehling. The Last Voyage of
the Lusitania. Madison Books, 1956.
Preston, Diana. Lusitania: An Epic Tragedy.
Berkley Books, 2002.
Wellesley College Archives.
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