In 1942, a 17-year-old girl who just graduated high school decided to pitch in and help with the war effort.  The girl, a slender brunette named Geraldine Hoff Doyle, took a job at American Broach & Machine Company in her home town of Ann Arbor, Michigan, and went to work operating a metal press while the boys went off to war.  Geraldine Hoff Doyle, wearing blue coveralls and a polka-dotted scarf over her hair, was captured in action by a United Press photographer and is best known today by the moniker Rosie The Riveter.  Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the inspiration for Rosie The Riveter, passed away this month at age 86.

Hoff didn’t know she was the symbol of a generation at the time, nor did she know just how famous she became among feminist circles and college professors for her can-do attitude and willingness to get her hands dirty while still being feminine.  The photo was seen by artist J. Howard Miller, who then turned the image into the famous “We Can Do It!” poster for the Westinghouse War Production Coordinating Committee, who wanted posters to improve company morale.  Hoff learned of her fame in the mid-80’s.

“You’re not supposed to have too much pride, but I can’t help to have some in that poster,” Doyle said in a 2002 interview with the Lansing State Journal.  “It’s just sad I didn’t know it was me sooner.  Maybe it’s a good thing.  I couldn’t have handled all the excitement then.”

Tags: Geraldine Hoff Doyle, Rosie the Riveter, Rosie the Riveter inspiration, Ann Arbor, Michigan, American Broach & Machine Company, We Can Do It, Geraldine Hoff Doyle Rosie the Riveter, woman who inspired Rosie the Riveter passes away, iconic images, Rosie the Riveter inspiration dead, unusual people, UPI, United Press

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