U.S.

Famed Riveter In War Effort, Rose

Monroe Dies at 77
By TONY MARCANO JUNE 2, 1997

Rose Will Monroe, an employee of an aircraft factory who, through a chance meeting
with a Hollywood star, became the celebrated ''Rosie the Riveter'' in World War II,
died on Saturday in Clarksville, Ind. She was 77, and a resident of Clarksville.

Mrs. Monroe's remaining kidney began to fail two years ago, and that led to her
death, her family said.

The Rosie character depicted in the widely distributed poster by J. Howard

Miller became a patriotic depiction of working women, but the image itself was
fictional. Mrs. Monroe appeared in a promotional film for war bonds after Walter
Pidgeon, the actor, discovered her at an aircraft parts factory in Ypsilanti, Mich., said
Mrs. Monroe's daughter, Vicki Jarvis of Clarksville.

Mr. Pidgeon had gone to the Willow Run Aircraft Factory to appear in the
promotional film and found out that there was a woman named Rose who was a
riveter, Mrs. Jarvis said. The song ''Rosie the Riveter'' by Kay Kyser, inspired by a
Long Island woman named Rosalind P. Walter, was already a hit. And the poster,
with the title ''We Can Do It'' above a painting of a muscle-flexing woman in a
bandanna and overalls, was becoming a worldwide symbol of women in the defense
industry in World War II. A real Rosie the Riveter, Mrs. Jarvis said, proved too good
for the film's producers to resist.

''Mom happened to be in the right place at the right time,'' Mrs. Jarvis said
yesterday.

Indeed, Mrs. Monroe was the quintessential wartime mother, said Mrs. Jarvis,
who had not yet been born when her mother took the job at Willow Run in the early
1940's. Left with two young children after her husband was killed in a car accident,
Mrs. Monroe, like millions of other women nationwide, joined the work force both to
fulfill a call to arms, so to speak, and to support her family.

''They couldn't find a better role model, to be honest,'' Mrs. Jarvis said. ''Everything
she does, she does well. She makes it very tough for the rest of us to follow in her
footsteps.''

Even before she became a riveter, Mrs. Monroe had proven herself while
growing up in Somerset, Ky., her daughter said. ''There were nine brothers and
sisters,'' she said. ''She was the one who was a tomboy who could use tools. She could
do everything.''

Despite her brief fame as Rosie the Riveter in the film, which was shown in
theaters between features to encourage viewers to buy war bonds, Mrs. Monroe
never capitalized on the role, Mrs. Jarvis said. She remained a tireless worker after
the war, driving a cab, operating a beauty shop and founding Rose Builders, a
construction company that specialized in luxury homes, her daughter said.

''My mother was the type of person who never believed in government
assistance,'' Mrs. Jarvis said.

During the war, Mrs. Monroe had hoped to be among the women chosen to
learn to fly and transport aircraft parts around the nation, but she was passed over
because she was a single mother, Mrs. Jarvis said. But Mrs. Monroe achieved her
lifelong dream of becoming a pilot when she was in her 50's.

''She was a member of the local aeronautics club -- the only female member, of
course,'' Mrs. Jarvis said. ''She was quite a good pilot. She taught me how to fly.''
 But Mrs. Monroe's love of flying resulted in an accident in 1978 that contributed
to her death 19 years later. Out for an afternoon flight with her daughter and four
other people, Mrs. Monroe's small propeller plane stalled on takeoff and plunged to
the ground. While the passengers were not seriously hurt, Mrs. Monroe lost a kidney
and the vision in her left eye, which ended her career as a solo pilot.

In addition to Mrs. Jarvis, Mrs. Monroe is survived by another daughter, Connie

Gibson, of Clarksville; six sisters, Vera Gastineau and Lelia Stiers of Lafayette, Ind.,
Gladys Jones of Merritt Island, Fla., Eula Stone of Jeffersontown, Ky., Flonnie Cope
of Lake Worth, Fla., and Christine Witt of Port Clinton, Ohio; nine grandchildren,
and 13 great-grandchildren.

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