Muscle-flexing Rosie the Riveter poster model dies at 86 LANSING, MICH. A woman whose photo was the inspiration for an iconic poster that lauded the efforts of working American women during the Second World War has died. Geraldine Doyle died Sunday in Lansing at age 86. A photograph of Doyle as a 17-year-old factory worker was the model for the well-known Rosie the Riveter poster of a woman wearing a head scarf and a flexing a well-formed bicep, the Lansing State Journal reported. Entitled We Can Do It!, the image inspired daughters, sisters and mothers to trade in the tools of housework and take jobs in plants across the country while their men were away at war. She was definitely one of the Rosies, said Sandy Soifer, executive director of the Michigan Womens Historical Center and Hall of Fame, in referring to the fictional Rosie the Riveter, a nickname given to women working in plants during the war. Its our belief that she is the model for the drawing that is most commonly used in the posters and on the products, Soifer said. Rosie the Riveter was also the title of a popular 1940s song, and the title of a painting by Norman Rockwell of a woman factory worker holding a rivet gun. Doyle told the Lansing State Journal in 2002 that she didnt realize the illustrated face on the poster, commissioned by the U.S. War Production Co-ordinating Committee was her own until 1984, four decades later, when she saw a reproduction of it in a magazine. A memorial service for Doyle is scheduled for Jan. 8.
wow we were just talking about her last week at my shoppe turns out she had a grand son who worked for the old man i worked for he has a poster of her in the shoppe and than an artical rite next to it with her photo and another with my boss and her in it ...he was just saying how she was one of the women who work during ww2 poppin rivits in planes ....r.i.p dont know if its a tru story
if you'll check a bit further, that news story is incorrect - the lady that just passed away was the model for the "We Can Do It" poster which has nothing to do with Rosie the Riveter.
Yes, it says that in the article. Also says she was one of the "rosie the Riveter" during the war, which there were thousands of. Don't be so picky.
I heard that on Fox2 news here in Detroit earlier... It'll be on again at 10 pm tonight.. This time I'll watch it...
Actually Rosie the Riveter was modeled after Veronica Foster a Canadian war poster star named Ronnie The Bren Gun Girl 1937 as we were in the war a little earlier than you guys. But as Canadians we are not supposed to say any thing that might cause controversy.
My Mom was a supply sargent during WWII,After the war she worked making bullets, At 88 she still deer hunts and did get a deer again this season. A strong generation.
Had a trip to Palm Springs air Museum after VLV and took these pictures aparently the picture was considered too "butch" looking hence the redesigned poster. We really enjoyed the visit as we have so much history here in Norfolk which was full of USAAF bases in WW2.
Hmmm. Since this was not a Canadian poster, it seems unlikely the USA would use a Canadian model as a USA war effort inspiration. edit: after reading your post, I reread the "modeled after', and added this: Seems though, according to Wikipedia, she WAS the Canadian equivalent to Rosie: Veronica Foster, popularly known as "Ronnie, the Bren Gun Girl", was a Canadian icon representing nearly one million Canadian women who worked in the manufacturing plants that produced munitions and materiel during World War II. Foster worked for John Inglis Co. Ltd producing Bren light machine guns on a production line on Strachan Avenue in Toronto, Ontario.[1] She can be seen as the Canadian precursor to the American fictional propaganda tool Rosie the Riveter. She became popular after a series of propaganda posters were produced; most images featured her working for the war effort, but others depicted more casual settings like Foster dancing the jitterbug or attending a dinner party
I did not say it was a CANADIAN girl. I just brought up some other history on the subject if thats ok if not I will remove my post like a good Canadian. And if you read my post I did say it was modeled after a Canadian poster not by a Canadian girl.
Whoa there, screwball. Read my post again! I admitted that I read your original post wrong (the part that says edit), and gave the appropriate credit with the Wikipedia quote.
Sorry our countries have a great shared history on this subject. I didnt post mine as one oneupmanship just as a add on to history. I did not want to cause drama. All is good.
Hi Everyone.. Thanks for sharing this piece of our American history and Canadian too.. My dad was too old to serve in WWII, but worked in Ankeny, Iowa for US Rubber, making tank shells, all during the war...was a furnace operator, as shells or casings had to go through a heat process. I worked 21 years (1972-1992) in Building D at Offutt AFB, where the B-29s were built by Lockheed Martin. The Enola Gay and Bockscar were both built in there and later came back to be modified to carry the 2 atomic bombs to Japan.. Have been to Trinity Site 3 times here in New Mexico, to see the history of the first atomic explosion...Also in the mid 1990s, I traveled to Dayton, Ohio and got to touch Bockscar at the AF Museum. One has to think of the dedication of all those workers in the plants, building the war machine that helped take down the Third Reich and then Japan. Very cold day and very windy here in New Mexico as we close out another year.. HAPPY NEW YEAR, HAMBers.. duane
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