CALIFORNIA, MD -- Doris H. Hooker, Captain, United States Navy Retired, passed away on Feb. 4, 2013, at the Hospice of St. Mary's in Leonardtown, Md. Doris, the youngest of three daughters of Elmer and Vera Hooker, was born in St. Johnsbury, on Sept. 4, 1925. She graduated from St. Johnsbury Academy in 1943; and, in 1947, she graduated from the Mount Auburn School of Nursing in Cambridge, Mass. Doris entered the Indian Service of the federal government where she lived and worked on the Turtle Mountain Indian Reservation in Rolla, N.D. In 1951, she was commissioned in the Navy Nurse Corps and had been stationed at Newport, R.I., Key West, Fla., Bethesda, Md., Philadelphia, Pa., Argentina, Newfoundland, Portsmouth, N.H., 29 Palms, Calif., Bremerton, Wash., Guam, and Camp Lejeune, N.C. Her final duty station was at Patuxent River Naval Station in Maryland, where Doris retired as Director of Nursing Services on July 31, 1979. Upon retirement, Doris remained in the "Pax River" area surrounded by her dear friends with whom she shared food and family. During her naval career and her retirement, Doris always found time to be with the families of her two sisters, Margaret Kingman and Lucille Paterson. She loved time at the beach in Delaware or at a Washington Redskins football game with the Kingmans. She also loved spending time in Vermont at the Paterson family cottage on Woodbury Lake where she would fish, water ski, watch the loons and feed the chickadees. She especially enjoyed sitting on the "lido deck" with a "toddy" and swapping sea stories with her Vermont friends. Although Doris stayed in Maryland after her retirement, she was a Vermonter at heart; and had made arrangements to be buried in the Vermont Veteran's Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center. Over the years, Doris remained a friend of the South Congregational Church in St. Johnsbury; and she was a regular attendee at Christmas time at the Barre Congregational Church. Doris was predeceased by her sisters Margaret Kingman and her husband, Edward; and, Lucille Paterson and her husband, Arthur. Doris is survived by her nephew Edward Kingman Jr. and his wife, Betsy, of Darnestown, Md.; her niece Nancy (Kingman) Dickey of Tampa, Fla., her nephew William Paterson of Castleton, Vt., and her niece Joanne (Paterson) Rose and her husband, Wendell, of Barre Town. She also is survived by seven grand-nephews and grand-nieces. There will be a graveside ceremony with military honors at the Vermont Veterans Memorial Cemetery in Randolph Center at a time to be announced in the spring. Memorial contributions may be made to The Book of Remembrance, Barre Congregational Church, 35 Church St., Barre, VT 05641.