Violet M. Doran was born in Pennsylvania on February 1, 1897 to John Nealy Doran (1862-1925) and Ida Mae Chestnut (1874-1944).

At the time of the 1900 Federal Census of Latrobe, Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, John N. Doran, 38, and Ida M., 26, had four daughters: Elsie M., 10, Edith R., 4, Violet M., 3, and Ida M., 2. The father worked as a driver in a coal mine.

By 1910, the family owned a home on Oak Street in Latrobe. According to the census that year, three daughters were living at home: Edith Rose, 14, Violet M., 13, and Ida M., 12.

Edith Rose Doran had married Evan B. Ross, and she died of pneumonia in 1914. They had a daughter, Edith, age 5 in the 1920 census, at which time the child lived with the Doran family. Elsie M. Doran, divorced, had returned to the family home on Oak Street. Elsie, Violet and Ida were employed as Inspectors at the steel mill. The parents had another daughter, Eleanor R., age 6.

Violet Doran was still listed as an Inspector in the 1927 City Directory of Latrobe, but she was actually a nurse in Pittsburgh, having graduated in 1925. Her father died in 1925.

In 1930, Violet Doran, 26, Trained Nurse - Hospital, lived on Coral Street, Pittsburgh. Her roommate was her former St. Francis classmate, Bertha O'Kanak. At the family home in Latrobe, the mother lived with youngest daughter, Eleanor, 16, granddaughter, Edith M. Ross, 15, and a nephew, Roy S. Dixon, 26, a hammer man in the steel mill.

Violet M. Doran is listed in the Nurses' section of the 1932 Pittsburgh City Directory. At that time, she lived at 235 Millvale Avenue.

In the 1940 census, Violet Doran, 37, a Registered Nurse, born in Pennsylvania, was a boarder in a home on Friendship Avenue, Pittsburgh. A number of other nurses lived there, including St. Francis graduates, Evelyn Conroy, Ann Gallacher, Margaret O'Brien, and Marie Gabriel. On January 3, 1942, the four nurses last named were living at that residence when it caught fire, injuring some, but killing two, including MARIE GABRIEL.

Meanwhile, in Latrobe, Mrs. Doran, 66, had daughter, Eleanor, 26, at home in 1940. Cousin, Roy Dixon, 37, lived with her, as well.

An online genealogy indicates that Violet Doran married Roy S. Dixon on November 27, 1943 in Westmoreland County. Violet's mother died in 1944 and "Mrs. Violet Dixon" was the informant for the death record.

Violet Dixon of Latrobe had a professional nursing license that expired October 31, 1976.

Roy S. Dixon, born in 1904, died in 1988.

The death of Violet Doran Dixon occurred on October 10, 1994.