Dorothy Mae Griffin Rice (1923-2010) of New London, Ohio, served primarily as a recruiter in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve from June 1943 to 1945 and from 1950 to 1952. After her military service, Rice worked as a receptionist, transcriber, and for the Environmental Protection Agency. Dorothy Mae Griffin Rice (1923-2010) grew up in New London, Ohio. She spent two years in the secretarial program at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, before joining her sister in the Marine Corps Women's Reserve in June 1943. In August, Rice went to boot camp at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina. After boot camp and two weeks of mess duty at Camp Lejeune, she was sent to Denver, Colorado, to work in recruiting. Rice remained there until June 1945, when she was transferred to the flight clearance office at the Marine Air Corps Station in El Toro, California. She was discharged as a corporal in November 1945. Rice worked briefly for the Mansfield, Ohio, airport before working as an airline hostess for Continental Airlines. When the Korean War started in 1950, she was working for Union Pacific Railroad and decided to rejoin the Marines Corps Reserves. She was stationed at the Denver recruiting office and then was transferred to Marine Corps Air Station Cherry Point in North Carolina. In late 1951, she was sent to the recruiting office in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. She went on inactive duty and was discharged following her marriage in 1952. Dorothy Rice met Don Rice at Cherry Point and they were married in February 1952. Don Rice remained in the Marines for thirty years, and was stationed in California, North Carolina, Florida, Hawaii, and Japan. Dorothy Rice worked as a receptionist and secretary until her children were born. While they were in school, she sold Avon products and later was a transcriber for Aetna Life and Casualty. When her husband retired in September 1974, they moved to a small farm in Raleigh, North Carolina. In Raleigh, Rice worked for the Office of Personnel Management and then spent ten years at the Environmental Protection Agency in Durham. She retired at the age of sixty-two and started growing and selling orchids. Rice died on 23 May 2010 in Winston Salem, North Carolina.
