Dorothy has roots in Manitoba, as her mother was born in Benito and her father in Rapid City.

Dorothy has been involved with two different Friends of the Library groups for the past 20 years.  The Sault Ste. Marie Friends group is a medium-sized group (population of the Sault is about 7500 people) and she was involved in this group for 15 years, serving as President for 10 years.  Dorothy is now President of the Prince Township Friends group, a Township just outside of the Sault (population of about 1000 people). 

Dorothy has been on the Friends of Canadian Libraries (FOCAL) Board and is currently President of this national not-for-profit organization which supports and provides resources for Friends groups across Canada. 

She also served for 11 years on the CNIB Library Board.  In recognition of her advocacy efforts for equitable library services for people with print disabilities in public libraries, Dorothy was presented with the Les Fowlie Intellectual Freedom Award at this year's Ontario Library Association conference.

Dorothy passionately believes in supporting libraries in practical and tangible ways.