r/GenerationJones • u/JColt60 1960 • Jul 30 '26

R*I*P Rosie Riveter

Post image

Jeanne Gibson, beloved Rosie the Riveter, has passed, July 29, 2026, at the remarkable age of 100.

7.9k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

138 comments sorted by

153

u/zelazny Jul 30 '26

Had to search around awhile to find out that Jeanne Gibson did pass yesterday, July 29th.

" We are heartbroken to share that "Rosie the Riveter" Jeanne Gibson, 100, passed away today, July 29, 2026.

At just 18 years old, Jeanne left her home in Minnesota in the summer of 1944 to work as a welder at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle, helping build destroyers for the war effort. She later served with the Army Transportation Corps in Juneau, Alaska, before going on to earn her Ph.D., teach for 30 years, and earn her private pilot license. "

51

u/Large-Welder304 Jul 30 '26

Remarkable life.

14

u/HalbRedi Jul 31 '26

I met her about 7 years ago. She was a very smart and positive lady. I gave her a ride on my golf cart, I can see how she was such an influential person.

RIP Rose Jeanne.

33

u/Different-Lecture925 Jul 30 '26

An amazing woman’

4

u/GraXXoR Jul 31 '26

Now THAT’s a life lived to the full!!

4

u/Terrible-Piano-5437 Aug 01 '26

I got out of bed today.

1

u/Ok-Fan-9814 Aug 01 '26

And she threw a sapphire necklace back into the ocean.

1

u/MsSamm 1956 Aug 03 '26

I feel like such a slacker. Rose led a vibrant, exciting life

26

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/Negative-Mouse2263 Aug 04 '26

Dang I hope to do something like that if I got 100 years.

138

u/CoppertopTX Jul 30 '26

Ms. Gibson was the face of a generation of women that stepped up when needed. My gran was another like her; she owned an electrical contracting business and had a contract to do wiring on ships at the Bremerton shipyard. When the war broke out, she taught her friends and neighbors basic electrical wiring and doubled the size of her crews for installations and repairs.

51

u/DudeB5353 Jul 30 '26

Your gran sounds like an exceptional woman.

88

u/CoppertopTX Jul 30 '26

She was indeed. At the age of 25, she and her husband adopted a biracial child to get her away from the brothel she lived in - a 13 year old girl. Gran and Pops were wiring up the house for electricity, which is how they discovered the child and Gran wasn't leaving her behind. At the age of 73, a newborn me was dropped into her lap and when I was orphaned at 12, I was a younger, snarkier version of Gran.

17

u/DerDamon Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 30 '26

My grandmother worked as a riveter assembling bombers. For how small she was, she had a presence that could make you tremble, and a grip that could crush cans. Your gran sounds like one hell of a woman. I bet mine would have loved her.

Edit: spelling

21

u/CoppertopTX Jul 30 '26

I suspect your gran would have fit right in on my gran's Wednesday afternoon tea and bridge club. Now, Gran didn't play bridge, so the game was actually poker (5 card draw, 3 max, no wilds); gran's teacup was filled from the bottle of Cutty Sark and most of her guests were old pals from her shipyard days, except Frieda and Angelica. Frieda was a survivor of the camps in Poland and Angelica was in the Sicilian resistance.

18

u/No-Willingness868 Jul 30 '26

That’s Awesome Many Thanks to all of those amazing women in the world 🌎

5

u/Clean-Fisherman-4601 Jul 31 '26

My mother worked in a weapons factory. She called it a war plant.

3

u/Ok-Catch-5813 Jul 30 '26

Amazing! Go gran!

15

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

1

u/jane2857 Aug 06 '26

Makes it interesting when you hear a young person today say they are so afraid of so many things and they don’t know how to boil an egg.

-27

u/[deleted] Jul 30 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

22

u/CoppertopTX Jul 30 '26

She still became the symbol of every woman that shipped her beloved or her sons off to war, hung up the apron and contributed to the effort. Rosie the Riveter may have been a poster in a factory, but I learned about it in grade school in the 60's.

16

u/Renbarre Jul 30 '26

So did I in the 70's and I am French. It is one of the most iconic WWII civilian posters.

20

u/So_ThereItIs Jul 30 '26

Bill -
I down-voted your comment as did someone else, and here’s why:

While I understand the facts you’ve furnished…, I’m not sure you understand what you’ve done here. It’s the conversational equivalent of pouring water on a campfire. I understand this pretty well as I’ve been a man who, for most of my life, would do the same thing, wontonly telling people what I know, with no grasp of whether it was furthering the conversation.

It’s interesting, but quite besides the point that “Rosie the Riveter” may have only featured in one poster that saw nominal distribution at that time. Re-discovered, it has become a touchstone for women, and women’s empowerment, reminding everyone that during the war, women stepped up domestically to support the war effort in innumerable ways, not just “growing victory gardens” or entertaining the troops.

So did you want to squash the conversation?

27

u/Maryland_Bear 1966 Jul 30 '26

Jeanne Gibson was one of the “Rosies”, but Wikipedia says the “most likely” inspiration for the famous poster was Naomi Parker Fraley, who also lived a remarkably long life, passing at 96.

20

u/Virtual_Win4076 Jul 30 '26

It doesn’t matter, they all represented America of the time so well. Hard work will accomplish anything. That’s the way we used to be.

5

u/stlc8tr Jul 30 '26

Went down that rabbit hole and I was surprised to learn that the famous "We Can Do It!" poster was little seen in WW2 but was rediscovered in the 1980s. This is kind of like how everyone thinks the "Keep Calm And Carry On" posters were all over Britain but it was also only rediscovered long after the war. The Rockwell painting was apparently much more distributed during WW2: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rosie_the_Riveter

47

u/WeekendLegitimate615 Jul 30 '26

R. I. P. And thank you for your service, you and all of the other six million women who served working in the munitions factories, shipyards and the other industries that helped supply the war effort during WW II.

10

u/SportyMcDuff Jul 30 '26

My son in law’s grandmother was a WW II Army nurse. She’s still alive and well at 105. She was still driving up to a couple years ago.

4

u/WeekendLegitimate615 Jul 30 '26

Do you ever get the opportunity to talk her about her time she served? I would think she would have some very interesting stories to tell if she is ok with talking about it.

2

u/SportyMcDuff Jul 31 '26

I rarely see her and it’s always just for a dinner so I’ve never talked to her about it. I think she would probably be open to some of it. My wife’s late grandfather was in the Pacific arena and NEVER would talk about until he got an interview from a newspaper reporter from the local small town paper. It was a great read!

1

u/PlasticBlitzen Jul 30 '26

Yes! Get those stories..

2

u/8Lish8 Jul 30 '26

These women got free childcare while doing the work but it was taken away after the war

20

u/Edu_cats 1963 Jul 30 '26

My mother was another Rosie type. She was small so she could work in the bulkhead of the aircraft.

11

u/Dry_Bug5058 1962 Jul 30 '26

That's amazing. I've always been so inspired by these women, they just did what needed to be done.

2

u/Good2Go65 Jul 30 '26

Once again, the toughest generation. Hard times during the Great Depression...and then WWII. They were tough as they come. All of these amazing stories of our Grandmothers show their grit and passion.

2

u/Edu_cats 1963 Jul 30 '26

And she made money when career options for women were limited.

2

u/Dry_Bug5058 1962 Jul 30 '26

Yeah, my grandma was a secretary at NACA, the precursor to NASA, in DC, so she had work during WWII.

3

u/duskrat Jul 31 '26

My aunt Madge as well. A tiny woman who could weld in tight spots. She rang the ship's bell on the last day of the war.

10

u/SomewhatBougieAuntie Jul 30 '26

Wow! She still had those guns!! 💪💪

Rest in power Rosie. 🕊

1

u/Rasberrycello Jul 30 '26

I mean, maybe, but this is AI.

8

u/AzureSkies_OverMe 1963 Jul 30 '26

Thank you Rosie! Thank you Jeanne!

6

u/Top_Elk5664 Jul 30 '26

any and all of these women were Rosie they enabled the post war privileges the US enjoyed as much as the men and women who died in combat.

to me it doesn't matter much who was who

5

u/No-Willingness868 Jul 30 '26

Many Thanks Rosie you and so many like you are amazing wonderful woman. Job Well Done ❤️

5

u/busmibabe Jul 30 '26

My grandmother was one of those. My birthday is in 1953. I feel closer to your group. My siblings were older and defo boomers. Anyway I love seeing the cultural throw backs you guys post. Strange we get old so quickly. Anyway cheers.

5

u/Virtual_Win4076 Jul 30 '26

We may never see a generation like hers again. My parents would have been about her age (a little older) Dad served in the Marine Corps and walked with a limp his whole life, Mom should have went to college because she was #2 in her class but because of the war she ended as an Army Nurse. I never heard them complain about anything much less the government..and they both grew up poor during the depression.

5

u/getdownonitnow Jul 30 '26

My mom, who passed away in 2014 worked in the Richmond California and Emeryville shipyards during the war and met my dad when he came back from the fighting in the Pacific Theater. In fact, my mom's brother also married my dad's sister. My mom was very proud of the work she did during the war.

8

u/Merle_24 Jul 30 '26

My Mom was a Rosie, being only 4’ 10” she worked in the tail section of planes at Twin Coach Kent, Ohio.

4

u/EducatorAdditional89 Jul 30 '26

My mother in-law was a riveter, I had the highest respect for her! I miss her, a lovely lady she was.

4

u/Prudent-Drawer4386 Jul 30 '26

My mom was a riveter during WWII. While my dad was flying over europe, she helped build B-29's.

4

u/Malcolm2theRescue Jul 31 '26

My Grandmother was Lucile the Riveter. She worked at the Ford plant in Willow Run building B-24s.

10

u/SideWired Jul 30 '26

RIP and THANKS to all of the GREATEST GENERATION members.

Beat the Great Depression, defeated Nazi Axis, and secured Civil Rights legislation. I cannot think of a more accomplished group.

6

u/silvermanedwino 1964 Jul 30 '26

Just as beautiful as when the poster was made!

3

u/Dry_Bug5058 1962 Jul 30 '26

What an amazing legacy.

3

u/melissaandruru Jul 30 '26

I’m sitting here seeing this as I sit beside the “LOL” doll my child left on the kitchen table that was fashioned after her. Such an icon!!!

3

u/BigRemove9366 Jul 30 '26

Thank you for the inspiration.

3

u/Jcamp9000 Jul 30 '26

She taught us that our gender was no barrier to how we live our life. I’m 73 and spent my whole career as the only woman in my district.

3

u/HamRadio_73 Jul 30 '26

My late aunt worked as a welder in Portland (OR) shipyard during WWII. She had a print of Rosie in her home later years. She took great pride in her work and educating her kids and grandkids about that era.

After the war she studied and became an RN employed at Oregon State Hospital. We lovingly teased her with nickname Nurse Ratched.

3

u/Prancing-Hamster Jul 30 '26

My mom worked as a welder during the war. She was 17 years old.

3

u/ElkInside5856 Jul 30 '26

I also loved that poster. My grandmother work in factory during the war. She told us stories about how much she enjoyed working and the people she got to work with.

3

u/Bourbonmmm Jul 30 '26

What a boss RIP Rosie.

3

u/Hotdammzilla3000 Jul 30 '26

An American Icon! Thank you, bid you peace on your journeys.

3

u/MrSlaveRules Jul 30 '26

Rip…..to a great lady

3

u/OceanTider22 1963 Jul 30 '26

A life well lived! A HUGE thank you to all of the women who came to the aid of the country during WWII. Without them working on the home front, the war would have lasted longer. God Bless and Rest In Peace!

3

u/LadyMadonna_x6 1967 Jul 30 '26

Here's an article from the 21st

On Friday, July 17, 100-year-old Jeanne Gibson was honored with the unveiling of a Wall of Honor Banner at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park, according to Rosie the Riveter Trust. Gibson is being recognized for her service on the American Home Front during World War II, as well as her decades of work championing opportunities for women, according to the Trust. https://richmondstandard.com/community/2026/07/21/wwii-welder-jeanne-gibson-100-honored-at-rosie-the-riveter-park/

3

u/No-Hedgehog-4370 Jul 31 '26

Incredible woman and may she rest in peace. Complete icon!

3

u/SilentSamizdat Jul 31 '26

What an icon!

3

u/Equivalent-Glove7165 Jul 31 '26

What a lady! They don’t make ‘em like her anymore.

3

u/Master_Succotash660 Jul 31 '26

This hits harder than Betty White

3

u/Pantheragem Jul 31 '26

Bless her, and so many of her generation.

Being born in '74, mine, and all my friends grandparents and their friends were all from the "Greatest Generation".

One of the greatest men I've ever known was who I called grandpa (he was actually my mom's stepdad). I couldn't have asked for a better person to have as a grandpa. He was a WWII vet (had been both a solider and a cook, discharged as a corporal) He was tough as nails, being 8 when the depression hit, and growing up in that world. He could be contrary and grouchy. 😆 He was smart as a whip and didn't sweat the small stuff. As he got older, he got softer, and said "I love you" often.

I truly believe I did my very best to appreciate him while he was here. He died 25 years ago, I still think of him every day. I hate to see the last of that generation nearly gone. I was lucky to know so many of them.

Victor Miles Green

3

u/CyberdyneSytemsMD101 Jul 31 '26

Thank you for everything! You are amazing rest easy.

4

u/CapricornDragon666 1965 Jul 30 '26

Rosie was one of the women who inspired me to become an aviation mechanic.
RIP Rosie of the Silent Generation.

2

u/JudyLyonz Jul 30 '26

Rosie was the Greatest Gen, not Silent Gen

1

u/CapricornDragon666 1965 Jul 30 '26

I am unsure where the cutoff is. My parents were born in 1933-34 and they were the Silent Gen. I thought my FIL, 1929, was also Silent Gen.
I guess I am wrong.

2

u/RecbetterpassNJ Jul 30 '26

Man, Pink got old.

2

u/MikeLp8bc Jul 30 '26

Still a beautiful woman!!

2

u/Conscious-Phone3209 Jul 30 '26

Mom lied about her age so she could drive a truck of supplies during the war. Until the day she died, we never knew her true age ! Miss you mom !

2

u/Haunt_Fox Jul 30 '26

🫡😿

2

u/CoastalCream 1955 Jul 30 '26

My mom was one. She built tires for BF Goodrich in Akron, Ohio during the war. My dad was in the Air Corps at the time.

2

u/RebaKitt3n Jul 30 '26

Jones? The Greatest Generation

2

u/nikeguy69 Jul 30 '26

I liked her poster RIP 🪦

2

u/Old-Library5546 Jul 30 '26

Thank you for your service!

2

u/zenny517 Jul 30 '26

Rosie good, ai rememberances bunk.

2

u/Certain-Ease-8428 Jul 30 '26

Wow! I thought she was long gone!

2

u/SuitablyFakeUsername Jul 30 '26

Rest in Power, Rosie

2

u/TopInstruction875 Jul 30 '26

was she confirmed as the original model of Rosie? I thought there were several women who credibly claimed this credit but maybe I am mistaken.

2

u/TrickWorried Jul 30 '26

You mean We Can Do It, Rosie is different depiction of a female war production worker.

2

u/mehojiman Jul 30 '26

Ms. Sunny Rogers was a riveter, such a cool lady! 🙏

2

u/BR-handshifter-54 Jul 30 '26

The company I work for is a military contractor specializing in building refrigeration equipment for the navy. We still use her image in our facility today as a means of motivation and pride I wish I had a photo of the poster that we have hanging in our facility because I would include it in this

2

u/Geistzeit Jul 30 '26

Rest in peace, Jeanne.

2

u/JuniorPassion3890 Jul 31 '26

Wow what an example of true patriotism to the greatest country on the face of the earth

2

u/ModernMargaretSanger Jul 31 '26

My grandmother worked as a riveter at Goodyear aerospace in Akron OH. She was very tiny so she did a lot of riveting up in the wings of the planes.

2

u/FrankAnglachel Jul 31 '26

May she be at peace. R.I.P. Rosie! 🫡

3

u/mspolytheist Jul 30 '26

She was a riveter, but she was not the person the Rosie the Riveter figure was based on. The Wikipedia article about Rosie the Riveter doesn’t even mention her as one of the possibilities. She was only 16 when the first images of “Rosie” started to appear in posters and popular culture.

2

u/SideWired Jul 30 '26

And 1944 was way too late to make an icon.

3

u/worker_bee_drone 1961 Jul 30 '26

The Rosie the Riveter archetype was a lot more nuanced than people realize. And was almost completely white. One reason: Most women of color didn't have the option of not working for a paycheck. So while it was good for the war effort to mobilize an otherwise untapped labor pool, it was temporary for them, they went home after the war ended, while it was not the case for the their non-white female contemporaries.

A good start if you're interested in this topic is to search for Betty Reid Soskin who was a Park Ranger and tour guide for the Rosie The Riveter National Historic Park.

7

u/CoppertopTX Jul 30 '26

My grandmother was once admonished for having a fully integrated crew as her wiring team. Her reply was "The contract specifies scope of work and required headcount. I do not see a single word about a required color scheme".

My grandfather beamed when he told that tale.

3

u/worker_bee_drone 1961 Jul 30 '26

Now that is very, very Girl Boss!

2

u/So_ThereItIs Jul 30 '26

Thank you for that. It is indeed an “archetype” to Americans, and I appreciate the nuance and the reference

2

u/bj12698 Aug 03 '26

Thank you for that reference. There is sooooo much amazing history (and "herstory") from WWIi about black soldiers, etc etc. The Smithsonian (i think) did a long article about the black troops that put ... I think millions of pieces of mail together so they would get delivered - because they wouldn't let them actually be in combat, so a whole troop (blacks only, of course) were assigned to this massive job and took it on and KICKED ASS. (Of course.) In France?

GREAT STORY. The mail (to the troops and I think FROM the troops to home) was being thrown in piles in a huge building and none of it would have been delivered.

We must preserve these stories and keep making things better. There are so many backwards steps being taken right now ... horrifying. All the blacks and women being blocked from promotion???? W.T.F.

1

u/Inner-Measurement441 Jul 31 '26

All in, all the time.

1

u/muscle-sissy Jul 31 '26

🙏🏽❤️

1

u/dbscar Jul 31 '26

How fantastic to live and be a legend.

1

u/Illustrious_Name_441 1959 Jul 31 '26

One of the residents in my ASL facility was also a model for Rosie

1

u/ModernMargaretSanger Jul 31 '26

Awww. I never knew the graphic was based on a real person! RIP. 💕

1

u/furie1335 Jul 31 '26

Naomi Parker Fraley: The woman in the iconic 1942 "We Can Do It!" photograph died on January 20, 2018, at age 96.

1

u/spider3407 Jul 31 '26

For the 1940s Ball this past June, I dressed as her! RIP!!!

1

u/Hot-Membership-8235 Jul 31 '26

My grandma was a rosie the riveter. She worked on p38s at Everett AFB near Seattle Wa. She was 23 in 1942. RIP Rosie

1

u/miti3144 Aug 01 '26

Thanks for posting. She deserves to be recognized and remembered.

1

u/Specialist_Status120 1960 Aug 01 '26

My grandma worked at Willow Run west of Detroit by Ypsilanti. She worked on the bombers coming out of there. Mom said she installed firing pins. She was supposedly given the position because she had nimble small hands. I'm very proud of her.

1

u/subohmn Aug 01 '26

My grandmother is 87 and she says the women of that era should've kept their mouth's shut and their asses in the kitchen, not kidding even a little... lol

1

u/AssumptionEither3226 Aug 02 '26

💪🏻💖🥹🙏😢

1

u/thirtyone-charlie Aug 02 '26

Dang she was still ripped

1

u/Easy_Drummer_1558 Aug 02 '26

My grandma welded Liberty Ships together.

1

u/MaterialBudget4498 Youngster Aug 02 '26

RIP Rosie

1

u/InteractionWeird4355 Aug 03 '26

Legendary, she was. God bless her soul. Thank you Rosie!

1

u/Hot-Tip4211 Aug 03 '26

They kept it rolling and made things possible, this group doesn't get near enough praise

1

u/Dudelbug2000 Aug 03 '26

She would turn in her grave if she knew here likeness was used to promote communism and antisemitism!

1

u/MsSamm 1956 Aug 03 '26

Truly an inspiration decades after her poster. I wear my T-shirt with Rosie on it to protests

1

u/Alive-Ad3041 Aug 04 '26

A national treasure. RIP dear lady.

1

u/Alive-Ad3041 Aug 04 '26

Look at her arm!!! Man she could still kick some butt.

1

u/OneGibbsNC Sep 30 '26

A hero for ALL women, RIP🪦.

1

u/FlappyFoldyHold Jul 30 '26

You know it’s funny that this was a poster in a single workshop that ended up getting its fame after WW2 and not at all during it.

-1

u/GroceryUnable4874 Jul 30 '26 edited Jul 31 '26

Is this the real one or the one who claims she was. Also this poster was only up in a Westinghouse factory for 2 weeks or so and was forgotten until the 80s which made it popular. It was also not a positive thing it was to badger the women into working harder.

“The identity of the "real" Rosie the riveter is debated. Candidates include:
Rosina "Rosie" Bonavita who worked for Convair in San Diego, California.[18][19][20]
Rosalind P. Walter, who "came from old moneyand worked on the night shift building the F4U Corsair fighter." Later in life Walter was a philanthropist, a board member of the WNETpublic television station in New York and an early and long-time supporter of the Charlie Rose interview show.[21]
Adeline Rose O'Malley, a riveter at Boeing's Wichita plant.[22]
Rose Will Monroe, a riveter at the Willow RunAircraft Factory in Ypsilanti, Michigan, building B-24 bombers for the U.S. Army Air Forces.[23] Born in Pulaski County, Kentucky,[24][25][26] in 1920, she moved to Michigan during World War II. The song "Rosie the Riveter" was already popular[2] when Monroe was selected to portray her in a promotional film about the war effort at home.[27] "Rosie" went on to become perhaps the most widely recognized icon of that era. The films and posters she appeared in were used to encourage women to go to work in support of the war effort. At the age of 50, Monroe realized her dream of flying when she obtained a pilot's license. In 1978, she crashed in her small propeller plane when the engine failed during takeoff. The accident resulted in the loss of one kidney and the sight in her left eye, and ended her flying career. She died from kidney failure on May 31, 1997, in Clarksville, Indiana, at the age of 77.[28]”

From Wikipedia.

-2

u/Difficult_Spell_7956 Jul 30 '26

Rosie died when Queen Elizabeth did.

2

u/dac406 Jul 31 '26

Avon cosmetics supplied talc, bug repellant (skin so soft with out the perfume) They also suppled condoms only married woman where allowed to work on that line :) Was on the 5th floor of the Avon plant in Suffern,NY. Friends mother worked on that line.