J. T. Rutherford

Who was J. T. Rutherford?

J. T. Rutherford, was a Democratic United States Congressional Representative and state legislator from the state of Texas.

He was born to James Thaddeus Rutherford and the former Allee Lillian Johnson in Hot Springs, Arkansas. In 1934, his family relocated to Odessa, Texas, where he attended public schools. He served as an enlisted man in the United States Marine Corps from 1942 to 1946, of which twenty-eight months were spent overseas. He was awarded the Purple Heart. As an assault amphibian vehicle crewman, he landed in the first waves on D-Day at Tarawa, Saipan, where he was wounded, and Tinian. He retired as a major in the United States Marine Corps Reserve.

From 1946 to 1947, Rutherford studied at San Angelo College in San Angelo. He then transferred to Sul Ross State College in Alpine, which he attended from 1947 to 1948. From 1948 to 1950, he attended Baylor Law School in Waco, Texas.

In 1948, Rutherford married the former Sara Jane Armstrong, and the couple had three children, Cleo Ann, Charles Lane Rutherford, and Jane Ellen. Rutherford was a partner in an industrial electrical construction firm and also owned an advertising business.