Dorothy Hart Rand, 90, of Bedford passed away peacefully on Jan. 8, 2023.
The daughter of Herbert Cowling Kimball and Helen Crawford Lingham, she was born in Pittsburgh, PA and raised in Southbridge, MA.
She was a graduate of Middlebury College where she met her first husband, Charles Hart. After graduation, they were posted to Seguin Island off the coast of Maine as Coast Guard lighthouse keepers. Chuck and Dot raised two sons, David and Stephen.
Career advancements meant moving to new locations; the family lived in New York, New Jersey, Wisconsin, Brazil, and Pennsylvania.
After Charles died in 1976, Dorothy earned a master’s degree in Program Evaluation at Hahnemann University and pursued a career with social service agencies in Philadelphia and eventually in the Boston area.
She married Robert Rand in 1998. They enjoyed spending time together in Brandon, VT and Westford until Bob’s passing in 2015.
Dot was involved with book groups, Cub Scouts, swim teams, and church youth groups. She was an accomplished gardener, baker, seamstress, and knitter.
She started a meaningful family tradition, attending Camp Chimney Corners in the 1940s. Her sons, nieces, nephews, and all of her grandchildren followed her example and came to love CCC and Camp Becket-in-the-Berkshires.
Dorothy loved the natural world – lady slippers, tide pools, songbirds, following animal tracks in the snow.
When she became a widow at the age of 43, she made the transition from volunteer efforts to full time work, always in the service of others and quite often with a focus on underserved women. She worked for Big Sisters of Philadelphia, Women in Transition, The Arthritis Foundation, and Hahnemann Hospital.
She was active in the Presbyterian and Congregational churches, serving as a deacon and Stephen’s Minister. She was also active with the American Association of University Women, serving as Vermont State President.
Dorothy leaves three siblings Philip, Eleanor, and Margaret, two sons, David (Sarah) and Stephen (Jennifer), stepson Geoff Rand (Anne Grimes) stepdaughter Cyndy Bunte (Kirk), six grandchildren, Katherine, Campbell, Peter, Elizabeth (Nathan), Charles, Emily and two step grandchildren Martha and Callaghan, as well as several nieces and nephews.
There will be a celebration of her life at 11 a.m. on Friday, Jan. 20, at the Trinitarian Congregational Church, 54 Walden St., Concord, and private burial service in South Bristol, Maine.
In honor of her life-long dedication to the underserved and in recognition of her inspirational role as a grandmother, contributions in Dorothy’s name can be made to Girls, Inc. of the Valley where her granddaughter Campbell now works: https://girlsincofthevalley-bloom.kindful.com/.
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