Doris Williams, 91, Veteran, She’s Still Serving Her Country

By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter Emeritus
New Journal and Guide

There are 365 days a year, and each is used to celebrate a particular facet of our culture, from New Year’s Day, January 1, to Bacon Day, December 30.

 In between, there is Memorial Day, Girl or Boyfriend Day, Get Funky Day, and for dog lovers, Mutt Day.

Doris Williams, 91, can claim Seniors’ Day, Mother’s Day, and Volunteers Day.

  Her busiest days of the week are Sundays, when she worships at Mt. Olive Baptist Church in the Lindenwood neighborhood of Norfolk.

 The next day, she volunteers with the church’s Food Pantry Ministry, filling bags for “Customers.”

  Williams can also claim Nurses Day and Veteran’s Day.

For a good portion of her long life, she was a nurse. She worked at DePaul and Norfolk Community Hospitals and the Department of Public Health and was a National Virginia Defense Force (NVDF) member.

She said the NVDF, created in 1985, is an all-volunteer (veteran and citizen) reserve of the Virginia National Guard that supports all Guard domestic operations during national and local crises.

Williams joined at age 52 in 1985 and served until she was 75 when she was forced to retire.

At one point before her retirement, she was the highest-ranking African-American woman in the VDF and also the oldest.

She was born Doris McLaurin on Washington Ave. in Norfolk.

 At age 9, while tending to her mother who was dying of pneumonia, she was inspired to become a nurse.

 “I recall wiping her brow when she had a fever and feeding her bits of ice or a glass of water,” Williams said.  “When she died, it was painful, but I knew then I wanted to care for people.”

She attended John T. West Elementary School and then two years at Booker T. Washington High School before her father remarried, moved to Aberdeen, North Carolina, and started a new family with his new bride.

“People who live in a city are different from ones who live in rural areas,” she recalled. “I hated it. I could not wait to get back to Norfolk.”

So, at 17, she moved back, married her first spouse, Joseph Spratley, and had two children.

She was busy and content as a homemaker, so she thought. One day, a neighbor asked if she would tend to her ailing mother while she worked.

Williams was happy to do so, and this request re-lit her interest in nursing.

At one point, she was told that DePaul Hospital, in 1960, was offering a training program for Nurses Aides.

“When I graduated, I was offered a job,” Williams recalled. “I worked in the Nurses’ Supply Office. I distributed   the supplies to home healthcare nurses   for two years, who monitored and treated surgical wounds and other needs.”

By that time, her family had increased by four children.  But Williams said she could “juggle.”

She worked at DePaul, the Norfolk Department of Health, and began her studies at Norfolk State in Nursing in 1971.

“I have never been lazy,” she said.  “I could work, raise my children, support my husband, and attend college. I would go home, get my family straight, and go to bed reading and studying. I would wake up early the following day to start it over again with a book on my chest. All of that is with God’s help.”

She graduated from the NSU Nursing School in 1975.

“I had a job waiting for me at Norfolk Community Hospital,” she said. “I was a nurse in the Labor and Delivery Department. I was assisting women to go to the bathroom one minute, then getting them ready for labor and then being called to help the doctor deliver a baby.”

“We did it all,” she said.  “There was no nursing specialization except for being ready to do what was needed.”

But at one point, after 40, the burden of family and work was taking a toll. She opted for one job: a home healthcare nurse for the Norfolk Department of Health.

“It was a job I hoped to do until I retired,” she recalled. “Then, I heard of nursing positions with the new National Virginia Defense Force (NVDF). People like me with no military experience – civilians – could apply. I got the job.”

She started as a non-classified intern in 1985. Her children were nearly grown up, her first husband had died, and she married her second one, Walter Williams.

She said the NVDF had various units or “programs” from A to D, and she started with A.

She was Unit A’s Nurse.

She was also tasked with supplying uniforms for personnel and medical supplies for unit personnel to use in the field.

She was the first African-American to be promoted from Intern to Lieutenant, Captain, Major, and finally Lieutenant Colonel. She said, no one has been promoted to that high rank since she retired.

She was the Norfolk unit’s Second in Command or Executive Officer and the first African-American woman to do so.

“I was also the counselor for the unit,” she said.   “When younger personnel got into trouble, I sat them down and got them straight. The commanding officer was amazed at my skills in helping them.”

She recalls one challenging time when the Norfolk unit was activated in April 2008, when a Pre-Hurricane season storm hit the region.

“No one in Norfolk had electricity, water, or food for days,” she recalled.   “So, I stayed at the headquarters instead of going to the field. The whole-time doing paperwork and whatever I could to support my unit.”

“According to the law, I had to retire at 75,” she recalled. “I was reluctant, but they let me stay until the end of the year. It was just like leaving my family. I understand how military people can get so close … support each other, and serve their country. I loved it, and I miss it.”