Edythe Rutherford was born in Candler, North Carolina on October 6, 1921; the daughter of John William and Addie Bell (Holcombe) Rutherford. After graduating from local public schools in Candler, she attended and graduated from the University of North Carolina Greensboro in 1942. She taught French at Linden (North Carolina) High School, 1942-1943; worked as a lab technician for American Enka, 1942-1943; and was a reporter for the Citizen-Times in Asheville, North Carolina 1944-1946. In 1946, she married Robert Stansbury Lambert. Their eldest daughter, Margaret Anne was born late that December with another daughter, Dorothy Lee in 1950. Between 1949 and 1952, the Lamberts lived in Clemson where he taught history. After short stays at colleges and universities in Georgia and Indiana, the Lamberts returned to Clemson in 1956. Edythe devoted herself to raising her family and participating in a great number of local civic, cultural and philanthropic organizations. She served as president of the Clemson Area Arts Council, 1978-1979; Pickens County Friends of the Arts, 1981-1982, the Clemson Chapter of the American Association of University Women, 1985; and the Clemson Council on Human Relations, 1987. Edythe was on the Board of Directors of the Clemson Child Development Center, 1976-2002. Among the awards she has received were Clemson University's Algernon Sydney Sullivan award for community service, 1990.