MAKING HISTORY: Dorothy C. Stratton, A Pioneer in Women’s Opportunities
It is nice to see the diversity of people who’ve made a lasting impact on the world, especially when those individuals come from rural lands and humble beginnings. Captain Dorothy Constance Stratton is one of those individuals.
On 24 March 1899 in Brookfield, Stratton was born to Baptist minister Reverend Richard L. Stratton and Anna (Troxler) Stratton. Stratton was a highly esteemed woman in a man’s world; she was a pioneer for women obtaining several firsts for women during her lifetime.
While being born in Brookfield, her family moved a great deal and she went to school in Lamar, Missouri, nearly four hours south southwest of Brookfield (Purdue obituary) and finished her K-12 schooling in Blue Rapids, Kansas.
The 25 November 1942 The Brookfield Argus discussed her connection to the Brookfield area stating that “Early in her teaching career, Miss Stratton taught history in the Brookfield high School where she was a very efficient teacher and strict disciplinarian, but very popular with her students because of her…understanding of their youthful problems.” During this time, she lived in Laclede, “just across the street from General Pershing’s birthplace” (Linn County Budget-Gazette, 10 February 1943).
The 4 January 1951 Brookfield Daily News article, “Name Former Brookfielder National Girl Scout Leader”, elaborated on Stratton’s accomplishments, noting she “taught in the local high school the year of 1918-19 before graduating from Ottawa University [Ottawa, Kansas] in 1920.”
Her initial jaunt into pioneering came shortly after earning her Ph.D. from Columbia in student personnel administration. In 1933, she joined Purdue University’s (Indiana) staff and became an Assistant Professor of Psychology as well as the first full-time Dean of Women (Indiana Commission for Women obituary; Purdue obituary).
Nine years later, shortly after graduating as one of the first WAVE officers trained at Smith College at the peak of World War II, she assisted in early enlistment of WAACs. Stratton was also tasked with setting up the radio school for the WAVES at Madison, Wisconsin. She did such a good job organizing the program that, “in Madison one Saturday…she received a communication from the navy to take the fastest transportation to Washington… Nothing was said about why. Just come” (The Star Press (Muncie, IN); 4 December 1942). When she arrived, she was shuffled off to meet with the commandant and three admirals. During the meeting, “The commandant said: ‘Organizing a Coast Guard women’s reserve is your job. How soon can you do it?’” (The Star Press).
This is about the time she was assigned as the “director of the SPARS (Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard) from 1942 to 1946, with the rank of captain” (Brookfield Daily News). The term “SPARS” comes from the Coast Guard motto: “Semper Paratus – Always Ready.”
Shortly after taking on her new office, she stated to an AP reporter that, “What women do now is important for the future…because ‘if we make good now, new avenues will open after the war.’ She is convinced too that ‘This war has vital implications for women. I’d hate to live in a Hitler world’” (The Star Press).
After World War II ended, she retired from that position having enlisted more that 10,000 women and 1,000 commissioned officers as SPARS during the war. Six months later the SPARS program was mothballed (DVIDS Hub).
Her accomplishments didn’t stop there.
After retiring as the SPARS director, Stratton became the first director of personnel at the International Monetary Fund (1947-1950), not the first woman director, but the first ever director. She then became the executive director of the Girl Scouts of the U.S.A. (1950-1960), during which time she appeared as a guest challenger on the gameshow “To Tell the Truth” (Military History Fandom). Adding to her resume, at the age of 62, she became the representative of the International Federation of University Women to the United Nations, then, from 1962 until her retirement, she chaired the women’s committee within the President’s Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. (Journal & Courier [Lafayette, IN] obituary, 19 September 2006; DVIDS Hub).
Her awards are plentiful: Ottawa University bestowed an honorary degree on her for her “outstanding work in guidance of young women” (The Star Press); she also received one from Smith College, Bates College and Purdue. She was also awarded the Legion of Merit or her contributions to women in the military. That citation reads in part, thusly: This award is bestowed upon Captain Dorothy C. Stratton “for exceptionally meritorious conduct in the performance of outstanding services to the Government of the United States as Director of the Women’s Reserve of the U.S. Coast Guard Reserve, Captain Stratton was primarily responsible for originating policies for the procurement, training, utilization, and maintenance or morale of members of the SPARs” (Valor.Militarytimes.com).
Additionally, in 2008, the U.S. Coast Guard Cutter Stratton (WMSL-752) was named for her. One of only three cutters named after a woman since 1980 (Military History Fandom).
Stratton died at the age of 107 in West Lafayette, Indiana at 6:48 p.m. Sunday, Sept. 17, 2006. She had lived in the same house with her former colleague and friend Helen B. Schleman, who’d worked with Stratton at Purdue in women’s studies and then under Stratton while in SPARS. They were roommates from 1985 until Schleman’s death in 1991 (Purdue obituary).