Dorothy Eva Rouse Bottom

Dorothy Eva Rouse Bottom (May 17, 1896 – December 15, 1990) was an American newspaper editor and civic leader.

Early life and education She was born to William Elmer Rouse, a funeral director, and Edna Sue Hudgins Rouse, a schoolteacher. She attended Mary Baldwin Seminary in 1914. Her mother's parents ran a boarding house which was where she met Raymond Bottom. Raymond Sr. died suddenly in 1953.

Newspaper career After the death of her husband, Rouse Bottom took over his job as vice president and business manager of the Daily Press, Inc. the company which owned and published two daily newspapers in Newport News, the morning Daily Press and the evening Times-Herald. She also took over as editor of the Daily Press. The newspaper would also frequently come out against federal regulations and civil rights, though these positions changed somewhat around the 1970s. Upon her retirement the Virginia General Assembly adopted a resolution honoring her as "a great contributor to the commonwealth."

Civic work Rouse Bottom was instrumental in soliciting funds to erect the Victory Arch in Newport News in 1962 which replaced a temporary wooden arch erected in 1919 to honoring servicemen returning from World War I. She established the Raymond B. And Dorothy Rouse Bottom Scholarship at Hampden-Sydney College, Raymond Jr.'s alma mater.