of SPARS, an acronym created from the Coast Guard motto, Semper Paratus, and its English translation, Always Ready. As director of the SPARS, a position that Stratton held until 1946, her primary role was to originate policies for SPARS that related to procurement, training, utilization, and maintenance of its members' morale. She oversaw significant growth in the program. More than 10,000 enlisted women and 1,000 commissioned officers served as SPARS in the remaining years of the war. Stratton retired from the military in January 1946. Stratton remained proud of the fact the U.S. Coast Guard used the highest percentage of women of any military branch of service during the war. Return to civilian life Stratton remained active in the years following her military service. From 1947 to 1950, she worked for the International Monetary Fund as its first director of personnel. In 1950 she became national executive director of the Girl Scouts of the USA, a post she held until her retirement in 1960. She served as a United Nations representative of the International Federation of University Women and chaired the women's committee of the President's Commission on Employment of the Handicapped. Later years In 1958 Stratton appeared as a guest challenger on the television show To Tell The Truth. She was the last survivor of the original women's reserve directors who served during World War II. In 1985 Stratton relocated from Newtown, Connecticut, to West Lafayette, Indiana, to share a home with Helen B. Schleman, the former assistant director of the SPARS and a colleague of Stratton's at Purdue University. Death and legacy Stratton died on September 17, 2006, in West Lafayette, Indiana, at the age of 107. She was interred beside her parents at Grand View Cemetery in West Lafayette, Indiana. In 2004 U.S. Representative Steve Buyer of Indiana publicly commended Stratton for her leadership and patriotism. At the time of her death two years later, Purdue University president Martin C. Jischke noted that Stratton's roles as Dean of Women at Purdue, director of the SPARS during World War II, and her postwar career at the International Monetary Fund and as the national executive director for the Girls Scouts made her "a trailblazer in helping to create opportunities for women." As its first female officer Stratton was also a pioneer for women in the U.S. Coast Guard. The Dorothy C. Stratton papers are housed at the Purdue University