Hanford, who lived to see her daughter elected North Carolina'sfirst female senator in November 2002, died Wednesday evening atRowan Regional Medical Center.
"She's had an absolutely wonderful life," her son, JohnHanford Jr., told the
Salisbury Post
. "It's not only been a longlife, but its been a full life, too."
Dole often referred to her mother as "my best friend." In astatement released Thursday by her Senate office, Dole said Hanfordprovided her children "with an example of what it means to liveevery day of your life with grace, dignity, generosity, andspiritual strength, and what it means to love a community and towork tirelessly to make it a better place."
A spokesman for the hospital, Phil Whitesell, said Mary Hanfordarrived at the hospital's emergency department by ambulance around8:30 p.m. Wednesday evening and was pronounced dead of cardiacarrest a few minutes later.
John Hanford said his mother had been in good health, but beganfeeling discomfort earlier in the evening. A companion who livedwith her performed CPR and called 911.
Hanford was an institution in her Rowan County hometown, wherefor decades she was active in volunteer causes, including historicpreservation, the Red Cross and the local PTA.
On her 100th birthday in May 2001, her family threw Hanford aparty at the Salisbury Civic Center, issuing a blanket invitationto the public in the pages of the
Salisbury Post
. Some500 people came, including weatherman Willard Scott and Christianmusicians Bill and Gloria Gaither, who serenaded Hanford.
After a century of looking after her hometown and her family,Scott asked Hanford what she planned to do with her next 100 years.
"I'm going to let them look after me," she joked.
When Dole returned to North Carolina in 2001 to run for theSenate seat being vacated by retiring U.S. Sen. Jesse Helms, shelisted the Hanford family home on South Fulton Street -- stilloccupied by her mother -- as her residence.
Dole -- who married Kansas Sen. Bob Dole in the 1970s, thenserved as a cabinet secretary in the administrations of RonaldReagan and George Bush -- consulted with Hanford before getting intothe Senate race and before her brief run for the Republicanpresidential nomination in 1999.
In September 2002, Hanford watched from a wheelchair next to thedais in Salisbury's restored train depot as her daughter won herfirst electoral victory in the Republican senatorial primary. Twomonths later, she watched on television from South Fulton Street asDole was elected senator over Democrat Erskine Bowles.
Born Mary Cathey, Hanford was descended on her mother's sidefrom Hezekiah Alexander, a prominent early Charlotte landowner.
She married John Hanford, a bandleader and owner of a localflower business, in 1917.
The couple had two children, John Jr. and Elizabeth, raisingthem in the brick Tudor home on South Fulton Street. While herhusband ran his flower business, Mary Hanford threw herself intocommunity service.
She served for 45 years on an antique show committee that raisedmoney to found a museum for Rowan County, held a seat on themuseum's board and started the Cathey-Hanford House, a center forsenior citizens and Alzheimer's patients.
And she was a faithful supporter of her children. John Jr.helped his father build Hanford and Son into an internationalfloral wholesaler and importer. Elizabeth was a Duke graduate andone of the first women to attend Harvard Law School.
Mary Hanford tracked both their achievements in two dozenscrapbooks that still filled shelves in her home in the late 1990s.
John Hanford Sr. died in 1981.
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