Darlene J. Rutherford-Wilson

Darlene J. Rutherford-Wilson.
Darlene June Steiner was born on November 22, 1937 in Ellsworth County, near Wilson, Kansas, daughter of Benjamin Arlington and Mahala Ellen (Davis) Steiner. She attended Holyrood Grade School and Holyrood High School and graduated from Moran High School in 1956 in Kansas. Darlene married Jim Rutherford on July 5, 1959 in Tempe, Arizona and they were married until 1974. She graduated from Arizona State (College) University in 1961 with a degree in education and taught English at West High School for two years. She then worked at John C. Lincoln Hospital for two years as a medical secretary before becoming an assistant librarian with the City of Phoenix for six years at the Harmon, Ocotillo and Palo Verde Branches. She worked as a typesetter for Pueblo Publishers until moving to Albuquerque, New Mexico, then to Taos, New Mexico where she became a writer, selling over 30 short stories. In the late 1980s she moved back to Phoenix before moving to Tucson where she became a real estate agent. She moved back to Phoenix in 1995 to be near her mother who had recently retired to Glendale, and Darlene worked as a real estate coordinator for Coldwell Banker and West USA Realty until her retirement in 2002. After her retirement she started writing again, and had just published her first full-length novel, Haunted! A Paranormal Mystery, writing as Darlene J. Wilson. Darlene was a direct descendant of Daniel Boone and was a member of the Boone Family Research Association. She was active in Mensa with her husband Jim in the 1960's. She became a very active member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, Inc. in 1973 and served as the editor of their newsletter, Southwinds, for several years. She was also a science fiction fan and participated at several conventions on panels about writing and publishing in the field. She had many hobbies including photography, jewelry making and gardening and was working on several novels at the time of her death. Darlene passed away on Monday, October 13, 2003 at Hospice of the Valley in Glendale, Arizona after a short battle with cancer. She is preceded in death by her parents, Ben and Ellen Steiner, and her ex-husband Jim Rutherford. She is survived by a sister and brother-in-law, Mahala (Steiner) and Mark Sweebe, of Phoenix, Arizona; one niece, Elisabeth Sweebe, of Tucson, Arizona; her best friend and second sister Julie Douglas (Doug Cosper) of Phoenix, Arizona; several cousins including Don (Trevella) Foster of Walkersville, Maryland; Carolyn Payton of Yukon, Oklahoma; Dolores (Vince) Meyer of Mustang, Oklahoma; Vicki (Pat) Wheeler of Layton, Utah; Gary (Carrie) Davis of Lakeview Terrace, California, and all their families; and many, many friends and her three cats whom she loved dearly. Services will be held on Sunday, October 19, 2003, at 1:00 p.m. at Greenwood Memory Lawn, 719 N. 27th Avenue, Phoenix, with visitation one hour prior to the services. Interment will follow at 2:30 p.m. For those who wish to make a donation in her memory instead of sending flowers, contributions to the Humane Society of Central Arizona or the Humane Society of Southern Arizona are suggested. Obituary may be viewed on website www.legacy.com