Dora Shaw (Heffner) was born in Maine where her father was a judge and served as Attorney General of Maine. She attended Bates College in Maine from 1902-04 and she is listed among the alumni of the class of 1906. However, she graduated from the University of Southern California in 1906. While there, she was a member of Alpha Rho local sorority. Kappa Alpha Theta installed a chapter in 1887. It became inactive in 1895. In 1917, Alpha Rho sorority became Kappa Alpha Theta. A 1958 Kappa Alpha Theta identifies Dora Shaw Heffner as a 1925 initiate of Omicron Chapter.
Los Angeles Times, October 1, 1905
She married Robert Armstrong Heffner on August 15, 1906. Dr. George R. Bovard, President of USC, officiated at the ceremony.
Early in her marriage, she filled her time with volunteer work. During World War I, she dedicated herself to the Red Cross war effort. She was a member of the board of trustees at the Florence Crittenden home for girls. This work prompted her she to attend law school. She wanted to be able to defend the young, unwed, pregnant women who found themselves in the Crittenden homes.
Eighteen years after she graduated with a Bachelor’s, she started working on a law degree from the University of Southern California. She earned her law degree in 1927, with Order of Coif honors. She became a member of the California Bar the same year.
Heffner served as a judge in the juvenile court from 1927-29. In 1928 she was the first woman to receive an international prize for the best legal article. At about this time, she and two colleagues founded the Legal Aid Clinic Association. For the next seven years she served one of its attorneys. She then became a referee of the Los Angeles Juvenile Court and was in that position for two years. Heffner was admitted to practice before the Supreme Court of the United States in 1934.
In 1943, California Governor Earl Warren appointed her as California’s Director of Mental Hygiene. She supervised the state institutions for those who were mentally ill and developmentally disabled. Her salary was $6,000 a year. She was the first woman in the state to serve in this position.
Heffner served as president of Omicron Chapter’s Advisory Board. Heffner was the “chum and counselor of each college member,” according to an article in the March 1931 Kappa Alpha Theta. In November 1932, the Omicron Chapter assisted Heffner in giving a tea at the Florence Crittenden home. They held a bazaar at the same time and donated the funds to the home.
In 1940, Bates College awarded her an honorary degree. An illness forced her retirement in 1949. She died in 1957 at the age of 73.
