Doreen Stratton, who made a career in the fields of government defense, the space industry, and video games and has devoted herself to her family and to activism and volunteerism in her community, has been named the 2026 recipient of the Bucks County Women’s History Month Award.
In 1987, Congress passed legislation designating the month of March as Women’s History Month. In Bucks County, sponsoring organizations have celebrated the accomplishments of women and awarded the annual Bucks County Women’s History Award since 1981 to a woman who has shown herself to be a role model with outstanding leadership in a volunteer capacity. Women representing about a dozen Bucks County organizations serve on the nominating committee.
Doreen Stratton was one of six African American siblings, raised in the Doylestown house where her grandparents had settled in 1887. Even now she recalls the pieces of her family’s legacy protected in two drawers of a large old bureau: documents, letters, pictures and small journals—history which would play a significant role in her life as a volunteer and an outspoken woman. She graduated from Central Bucks High School in 1960. When, in her sophomore year, she had met with the school counselor to discuss her goals after graduation, the counselor encouraged Doreen to “pursue business courses instead of college.” Those words were echoed years later in Michelle Obama’s autobiography and the dream of many other women of color.
After her May 1963 marriage to an Air Force Airman, Doreen lived in California for the next ten years, always seeking personal growth. Her son Mark was born in 1964 during her husband’s assignment at Travis Air Force Base in Fairfield, California. Doreen learned invaluable tools during this time, from experiences and interactions with people she worked with and others she met in the community. While employed in Fairfield at Explosive Technology (ET), a facility devoted to research for government defense and space industries, she witnessed the completion of President John F. Kennedy’ declaration to send a man to the moon and return him safely to earth.
After a divorce in 1968 Doreen relocated to San Jose. She married a second time, and in 1972 her second and final child, Melanie, was born. Returning to the workforce in 1973, she witnessed the growth of the video game industry while at Atari, an upstart company in Los Gatos which would change the leisure game industry’s world with the release of its game, PONG. Soon, Atari’s success was replicated by other companies. The industry’s profits lifted while it also produced games marketed with aggressive tendencies. When Warner bought Atari, Doreen left the company. She and her family packed up a U-Haul and drove across America to Doylestown. Her arrival back in her hometown marked the start of her activism and volunteerism, which continues today.
In 1982, Doreen volunteered on the Congressional campaign of Peter H. Kostmayer, securing a position in his Doylestown District Office. In 1987 she began employment at the County of Bucks’ Personnel Department, retiring in 2007. A sojourn to Ghana in 1999 was a return to the land of her ancestors. It was a wish completed and opened a door to spread the message of culture, ancestry, and history. In 2002, Doreen joined the Bucks County League of Women Voters, another opportunity for using the life skills in her toolbox.
Doreen describes herself as a storyteller, a self-taught writer, a fan of history and an 'Angry Woman of Color'. “I’m in my eighth decade of walking on the planet,” she noted, “but I still have a few wishes to cross off my list.”
She will be honored at a reception on Thursday, March 19 at 5:30 pm in the James-Lorah Memorial Home Auditorium at 132 North Main Street in Doylestown. For more information or to purchase tickets in advance, contact Marilyn.puchalski@gmail.com. Tickets are $15 in advance and $20 at the door.
