Dora Donahue was born in Europe, just after World War I. When war again consumed Europe a few decades later, she fled the battle-torn region and immigrated to the United States in 1943. She settled in Oxford, Mississippi, and enrolled at the University of Mississippi. She was a Ph.D. student at Ole Miss when she met George, an Oxford tax attorney, through a mutual friend in 1947. Their maturity and intellectual interests proved a good match, and they were married a year later. Unlike many men of his era, who wanted their wives to stay at home and tend to domestic affairs, George was supportive of Dora's studies and her subsequent career as a research assistant to prominent archaeologist David Robinson. But both George and Dora wanted to have children and were disappointed when doing so proved difficult. When their son, James, was born, Dora, then 34, and George, 41, felt blessed.

With Dora and George's dual incomes, the family enjoyed moderate affluence. Friends often teased them about how they lavished their son with gifts and treats at every opportunity. Although both parents continued to work during James' childhood, relying on a nanny to tend to him after school, the family took a two-week vacation together every year -- visiting landmarks from Disneyland to the Adirondacks -- and always visited George's parents in Charleston, S.C., for Thanksgiving. While Dora and George always had money to spend on their son, the demands of their careers left them little time to spend with him. Dora was rarely able to help out with James's extracurricular activities and was often late arriving at his school functions, but she always made sure she was there when he went to bed each night and often told him tales of pharaohs and Roman emperors until he fell asleep. George was also busy with his career, frequently working late and seeing his family only at the dinner table, but Dora always explained her husband's absence by telling James that George was "an important man" and helped other people with his work.

Dora was devastated when her beloved George died from a heart attack in April of 1968. Between George's insurance and her own income, Dora was able to keep herself and her son from financial hardship, but could not dissuade 14-year-old James from taking a part-time job after school. Her son felt he was the "man of the house" after his father's death and took his role very seriously. He insisted on contributing to the household income, even if it was in a small way.

As an Ole Miss alumna and employee, Dora was only mildly disappointed when James opted to attend college at rival Mississippi State University, but never tried to change his mind because the full scholarship he won was too good to turn down. Even though she repeatedly tried to convince her son that he didn't need to take care of her anymore, James still returned home to visit Dora almost every weekend while he was an undergraduate. Though she would never say so to him, she deeply appreciated his devotion to her and came to rely on it.

Dora was thrilled when James became engaged to Ida Champlin in 1976. She wanted her son to be happy and was pleased he had found a woman so well suited to him. When James returned to Oxford to attend law school after his engagement, Dora encouraged him to visit Ida in Starkville, Mississippi as often as possible. As happy as she was with her son's marriage in 1977, she never could have anticipated her joy at the arrival of her first grandchild, James Jr., born in 1979. That joy only increased with the addition of two more grandchildren, Jennifer and George. Dora reveled in her role as grandmother and especially doted on her late husband's namesake, indulging him in nearly everything.

When James decided to run for the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1984, Dora actively campaigned for him. She couldn't have been prouder than on the day he was first elected, and she has supported each of his subsequent campaigns for both the State House and the State Senate. Though she hasn't mentioned it to James because she doesn't want to put any additional pressure on him, she dreams of seeing him in national office before she dies.

Dora stayed on at her post at the University Museum until the age of 70, but the in the later years of her career she was only working part-time. She retired in 1989. Since then, she has contributed several research articles to important archaeological publications and has taken great pride in her son�s burgeoning political career. She lives alone, though she has daily help from her housekeeper and former nanny to James, Sara Van Outen.