In 1979, with the collapse of Pahlavi dynasty and the Islamic revolution in Iran, Doolittle left Iran after over five decades of living and working in Iran and she moved back to the United States. She felt home sick for Iran and longed to go back, but was never able to. In her old age she lived in Cortland, New York in an apartment furnished by her classmates from Wells College. She died on 1 March 1990 in Cortland, New York at the age of 90 and was buried in the Cortland Rural Cemetery.