Dorothy Constance Stratton

Dorothy Constance Stratton (born March 24, 1899, Brookfield, Mo., U.S.—died Sept. 17, 2006, West Lafayette, Ind.) was an American educator, naval officer, and public official, who is best remembered as the planner and first director of the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve.

Stratton graduated from the University of Ottawa in 1920 and earned a master’s degree from the University of Chicago in 1924 and a doctorate from Columbia University, New York City, in 1932. In 1933 she was appointed dean of women and associate professor of psychology at Purdue University, Lafayette, Ind.; she advanced to full professor in 1940. In June 1942 she served on the Women’s Army Auxiliary Corps selection board for the V Corps area, and later in the year she enlisted in the Women Accepted for Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES) of the navy and was given a lieutenant’s commission.

In November 1942 Stratton was ordered to duty in the office of the commandant of the Coast Guard, where she developed plans and guidelines for the Coast Guard Women’s Reserve corps. By the end of the month she had devised a name for the corps, SPARS, derived from the Coast Guard motto “Semper Paratus” (“Always Ready”), and, with the rank of lieutenant commander, had been appointed its director. She continued in that post until 1946, rising to the rank of captain. Stratton later served as director of personnel for the International Monetary Fund in Washington, D.C. (1947–50), and as national executive director of the Girl Scouts of America (1950–60). From 1962 until her retirement she was a member of the President’s Commission on the Employment of the Handicapped and a consultant on vocational rehabilitation to the Department of Health, Education, and Welfare.