Susan Rita Purje Connor (b. 1945) served in the United States Navy Nurse Corps from 1967 to 1972.

Susan Rita Purje Connor was born 16 June 1945 in Long Island, New York. After graduating from Baldwin High School in 1963, Connor attended Hartwick College in Oneonta, New York. She participated in Future Nurses of America, and graduated with a degree in nursing in 1967.

Seeking an opportunity to travel, Purje decided to join the United States Navy Nurse Corps. She attended officer training in Newport, Rhode Island and was then assigned to Naval Air Station Corpus Christi, Texas where she was assigned to work evenings. In February 1969, Purje was assigned to the navy hospital ship USS Sanctuary in Vietnam. Her duties included treating Vietnamese children and participating in Medical Civic Action Programs, or MEDCAPs, where she and other navy nurses provided care to Vietnamese villagers.

After returning from Vietnam, Purje began work at San Diego Naval Hospital in the surgical Intensive Care Unit, before being assigned as head nurse. She later worked as a recruiter for the Navy Nurse Corps in Cincinnati, Ohio, traveling to and recruiting in Indiana, Kentucky, and West Virginia. She also worked as a toastmaster, swearing in women who were becoming nurses.

In 1972, Purje met her future husband, Richard. In 1973, she decided to leave the military because they could not guarantee her a duty station. Purje began work as a recruiter for a hospital in Washington, D.C., and then transitioned into staff development. She has worked with the Wounded Warriors project and veterans with post-traumatic stress disorder.