So that the public will not forget the contributions of us Rosie the Riveters I decided to organize a program to showcase what we did during WWII.

The first program was presented at Providence Mount St. Vincent. It was so well received that we decided to go on the road, so to speak. Our second program will be presented at Bridge Park Retirement Residence at High Point, Thursday, July 16 at 3 p.m.

People often ask who qualifies to be a Rosie the Riveter. According to the national organization, a woman is eligible as a Rosie if her work or volunteer services occurred during 1941 to 1945 and consisted of employment of any sort in an industry or government agency that was directly related to the war effort.

Flo Ringstad was a WAVE in the US Navy where she trained at boot camp in New York City, graduating at the top of her class. Elaine Russell was just out of high school and worked at Sears Roebuck filling orders for uniforms for all those other Rosies.

Chris Holm riveted on the B-29 bulkhead at Puget Sound Sheet Metal Works. Margaret Ceis riveted at Boeing Plant 2 in Renton on B-52 planes. She said she had one week’s training and worked for about two years.

Anita Lusk was a radio panel installer for the B-17 bomber at Boeing Plant 2.

I drilled holes in wing panels for the B-17 bomber and was able to get a ride in that very plane a couple of years ago.

Gwen Schwenzer was also a riveter but unfortunately she is unable to present this time.

There will be a large collage on hand showing all the Saturday Evening Post covers from the war years with the Norman Rockwell cover of Rosie the Riveter featured.

In looking up information about this particular cover I found that the model was really a rather slim woman. However, Rockwell depicted her as a tough looking brawny woman. In those days any woman who would do what was termed “man’s work” would be pictured as brawny and manly in nature. After all, women were only doing what was termed “man’s” work until the war was over. Then it was expected that she would go back home, marry her sweetheart who had come home from the war and have babies.

The fact is that many of the women stayed in the trades after the war. An association called Washington Women in Trades encourages women to go into the trades and have adopted us Rosies because we paved the way for the woman of today who chooses to work on power lines or do construction work, for example.

WWII veterans and workers are dying by the thousands every year. It is my hope that this program will bring the stories told by real live Rosies to the public before there are no more of them around to tell their stories personally.

Here is your chance to meet a real live Rosie. If you are a Rosie and haven’t joined with us yet, call Georgie at 206-935-8663.

Georgie Bright Kunkel is a freelance writer who can be reached at gnkunkel@comcast.net or 206-935-8663.