Died at the age of 101, leaving behind grieving family and many friends, young and old. She was the very loved mother of Charlotte Sanford Mason and her husband Philip Mason of Brookline, and Holly Sanford and her husband Peter Sturtevant, of Auckland, New Zealand; grandmother of Nathaniel Mason and his wife Ashley, of Claire Mason, and of Nicole Mason and husband Elliott Friedman; and great grandmother of Indya, Natty, Ellis and Porter and attentive aunt to her extended nieces, nephews, great nieces and nephews and loyal, if devil's advocate, sister to her late brothers.

She was born in Waterbury, Connecticut to Clarice and E. Nelson Canfield and had two younger brothers, George and Norman, both of whom predeceased her. Her life took a tumultuous turn from a conservative upbringing when she married Charles L. Sanford, father of their two daughters, who introduced her to the world of academia and liberal politics. Following the early peripatetic route of her husband's student and teaching career, she moved over 30 times, including the spending of a year in Strasbourg, France. Dorothy loved nature and was always the first to spot the first blooms of spring and recognize the bird on the branch. She moved from Boston to Washington D.C. in 1973 with her daughter Charlotte and son-in-law Philip supposedly for the two years of Philip's job duration, but stayed ten, becoming the Special Events organizer for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American Art and meeting and marrying the then Chief Conservator for the Portrait Gallery and artist Felrath Hines. She retired and moved to Boston in 2002 after the death of her husband to be near her family. Gardening was her passion and delicious and healthy food was a given at her table. In 2016 Dorothy moved to Assisted Living at Springhouse in Boston. She lived there compatibly with her cat Honey, surrounded by her husband's paintings and many new friends.

Funeral Services were private.