Donald Dungan Dod
The Reverend Donald D. Dod (October 10, 1912, Kansas City, Missouri – April 1, 2008, West Virginia), was an American missionary and orchidologist.
Life
He went to Long Beach Junior College and graduated from the University of California, Berkeley with a major in Chemistry. After a stint in the oil industry he entered San Francisco Theological Seminary in San Anselmo, CA, where he met his future wife, Annabelle Jean Stockton (aka Tudy). They graduated with a Master’s degree in Divinity and a Master in Christian Education respectively.
In 1946 the Dods established a Presbyterian ministry in El Guacio in western Puerto Rico, which included among many other activities a health clinic, a social work program and public health efforts. During their 17-year stay in Puerto Rico, they “became enamored of the flora and fauna of Puerto Rico”. While Tudy became interested in birds, Donald became an extremely well versed amateur orchidologist, having discovered well over fifty new orchid species and (having taught himself the rudiments of botanical Latin) described many of them himself.
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