Ray was entered into the Iowa Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2008 and received the national Marconi Small Market Personality of the Year award in 2014.
[1] Ray became the fifth editor-in-chief of the university's student newspaper, the Daily Iowan, in 1942; she was the first woman to hold the role.
She earned bachelor's and master's degrees and remained at the university for a period as a teacher of journalism.
Ray and her husband lived for three years in Albany, New York, before returning to Iowa where she remained for the rest of her life.
[1] Ray was afterwards offered a morning slot on Iowa City radio station KXIC.
She refused, citing childcare constraints, but the station persisted and offered to set up a studio in her home.
[4] Broadcasting from home came with its own pitfalls; once, Dottie's daughter Amy unplugged the microphone and stopped the show, and on another occasion, a repairman who had been ringing the doorbell to no response entered to find out that he was on the air.
[9] Ray's husband, who became director of the University of Iowa's Institute of Public Affairs, died in 1982.
[5] Ray was entered into the Iowa Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame in 2008 and received the national Marconi Small Market Personality of the Year award in 2014.