Dorothy Stratton died in West Lafayette, Indiana, at age 107, remembered as the first woman commissioned officer in U.S. Coast Guard history.
Dorothy C. Stratton died on September 17, 2006, in West Lafayette, Indiana, at the remarkable age of 107. Her death marked the passing of one of the last living pioneers of women's integration into the U.S. armed forces during World War II.
By the time of her death, Stratton had long been celebrated as a trailblazer across multiple fields: the first full-time Dean of Women at Purdue University, the first woman commissioned officer in Coast Guard history, the first woman to reach the ranks of Commander and Captain in the Coast Guard, the first director of personnel at the International Monetary Fund, and a decade-long national executive director of the Girl Scouts of the USA.
Her extraordinary longevity allowed her to witness nearly the entire span of the 20th century and the dramatic evolution in women's roles in American public life that she herself helped to bring about. In her later years, she remained a celebrated figure at Purdue University and within Coast Guard heritage circles, often honored at commemorative events recognizing her wartime service.
Her legacy would be further memorialized in 2012, when the Coast Guard christened a new National Security Cutter, the USCGC Stratton, in her honor—the first such vessel named after a woman and sponsored by a First Lady. Stratton's life and career remain a touchstone in the history of American women's advancement in military, educational, and international institutional leadership.