From: WillNich@aol.com
Date: Sun, 1 Jun 1997 11:59:35 -0400 (EDT)
Subject: Rosie the Riveter Dies

"Rosie the Riveter" was a fictional character from the World War II era.  She
was depicted as working in a factory, doing heavy work to help the war effort
while the men were off fighting the war.  She came to become an idol for
lesbians of that era and afterwards because of her spirit of independence,
her ability to do anything a man can do, and the inherent symbol of equality
she represented.

ROSE MONROE DIES; HAD FILM ROLE AS "ROSIE THE RIVETER"

Indiana woman was in film shot during WWII

by Michele Wayman, The Louisville Courier-Journal

CLARKSVILLE, Indiana.  Rose Will Monroe, who played "Rosie the Riveter" in a
patriotic movie while building military airplanes during World War II, died
of natural causes yesterday at her home in Clarksville.  She was 77.
  Monroe, a native of Pulaski County, Kentucky, became "Rosie the Riveter"--a
nickname given to thousands of women who took defense jobs during the
war--while working as a riveter on B-29 and B-24 airplanes at the Willow Run
Aircraft Factory in Ypislati, Michigan.
  A movie company came to the plant and selected her to play the part of
Rosie in a short promotional film because she fit the profile of the song,
said Monroe's daughter, Vickie Jarvis.
  Unlike many other "Rosies," who returned to their kitchens or to low-paying
jobs after the war, Monroe worked as a taxi driver and operated a beauty shop
before starting her own construction firm--Rose Builders of Southern
Indiana--which specialized in high-quality custom houses.
  Her work in airplane factories, both in Ypsilanti and at the old Curtiss
Wright Corp. in Louisville, spurred her to become a pilot.
  She earned her pilot's license in the late 1960s and flew often until a
1978 accident cost her a kidney and the vision in her left eye.
  After the accident, she remarried and closed her business, but she still
worked on her own home and helped relatives with theirs, Jarvis said.
  She was a member of Graceland Baptist Church in New Albany.
  Survivors besides her daughter include another daughter, Connie Gibson; six
sisters, Vera Gastineau, Lelia Stiers, Gladys Jones, Eula Stone, Flonnie Cope
and Christine Witt; nine grandchildren; and 13 great-grandchildren.
  The funeral will be at 2 pm Tuesday at Kraft Funeral Home, Charlestown
Road, New Albany, with burial at Abundant Life Cemetery in New Albany.
 Visitation is from noon to 9 pm tomorrow and after 9 am Tuesday.
  Memorial gifts may go to Hospice of Southern Indiana or to Graceland
Christian Schools.

END