8A COTTAGE GROVE SENTINEL APRIL 11, 2018
Searching for Rosie: A call for Rosie the Riveters
Nelson, 94, has stated previ-
ously that she was “surprised”
people are still interested in
Rosie the Riveters.
It’s a mindset Fasold says is
common among the Rosies.
“They were serving their
country. That’s how they see it,”
she said.
For that service, ARRA is
lobbying Congress to bestow a
Congressional gold medal on
the Rosies. The act, sponsored
by California Representative
Jackie Speier and Pennsylvania
Senator Andrew Casey, would
award the women who worked
on the home front and acknowl-
edge “their contributions to the
nation and the inspiration they
provided.”
National Rosie the Riveter
Day was celebrated for the fi rst
time last year on March 21.
“We just want to recognize
these women,” Fasold said, in-
terrupted by tears. “It brings me
joy being able to go with them
and hear them tell their stories.
So, ask your grandmother, your
mother. I think people will be
surprised to fi nd out that maybe
they were Rosies.”
To join ARRA, visit rosiethe-
riveter.net or contact Fasold at
fasold@uoregon.edu.
Meet the Candidates
for East Lane County
Local Rosies Opal Nelson, Doris Graham and Alice Heiney ring a bell for Rosie with Yvonne Fasold earlier this year.
By Caitlyn May
cmay@cgsentinel.com
Yvonne Fasold leafs through
the table of contents, rattling off
names.
Doris Graham worked typing
war bonds. Bettie Jean Furness
Layman was a driver in the
south and once drove Sammie
Davis Jr., who couldn’t stay
overnight in the town he was
performing in. Opal Nelson.
Carol Souter Ferguson. Alice
Heiney was an ammunition in-
spector. She just celebrated her
100th birthday.
Fasold knows the pages and
stories of “Rosie the Riveter
Stories: How they did it” by
heart because she helped write
it, driven by an urgency she says
has only increased as a genera-
tion of women who manned
the home front, passes away. In
January of this year, the “real”
Rosie the Riveter Naomi Park-
er Fraley—made famous by the
‘We Can Do It’ poster —died at
96.
“These women are very hum-
ble,” Fasold said. “After the war
they just went back to their lives
and didn’t give a thought to the
role they played. But the efforts
on the home front helped win
the war.”
Between 1940 and 1945,
one in four American women
worked outside of the home and
not necessarily driving rivets.
Women fi lled positions on farms
and factories taking positions
as welders, drivers, parachute
packers, railroad workers, am-
munition inspectors, typists for
war bonds and plane spotters.
Not every Rosie was a riveter.
It’s a message the American
Rosie the Riveter Association
(ARRA) is trying to get out as it
plans its 20th anniversary gath-
ering in New Orleans set for this
June. The group is working to
identify as many living Rosies
as possible as it takes on a slew
of projects aimed at recognizing
the effort of women in the work-
force during World War II.
“We want to fi nd them,” Fa-
sold, a former ARRA president,
said. “There are women who
may not know that they qualify
as a Rosie.” Fasold’s own moth-
er, a welder during the war who
has since passed away, thought
her service did not qualify for
the ARRA. “They just don’t
know,” Fasold said.
Acting correspondent secre-
tary for ARRA Mabel Myrick
has sent out a call for Rosies
asking that women attend the
20th anniversary in New Orle-
ans. “These women are now in
their 90s and we would like to
have as many of them as possi-
ble,” she wrote in a letter urging
women to step forward.
Cottage Grove boasts three
active Rosies—Opal Nelson,
Alice Heiney and Doris Gra-
ham—who attend events and
give presentations around the
state with Fasold. Their latest,
scheduled this week at North
Eugene High School.
Commissioner
April 17th 6:30pm
Cottage Grove City Hall
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