3965 – August 7, 2026 – We Need More Rosie’s – Remember Rosie the Riveters? During WW2 when our men went to war… the women went to work, doing the jobs the men had been doing. AFTER the war these women lost those jobs. They went back to the men! So, America’s Rosies knew all too well about sexual discrimination.
America lost a valuable ROSIE in July… Minnesota-raised Rosie the Riveter remembered for preserving women’s wartime stories.
August 4, 2026 3:35 PM
Jeanne Gibson (left) and Tammy Brumley met while volunteering at Rosie the Riveter WWII Home Front National Historic Park in California.
The image of Rosie the Riveter flexing her bicep beneath the words “We Can Do It!” has become an enduring symbol. The iconic poster represents the millions of women who stepped into factories, shipyards and assembly lines during World War II, including Minnesota-raised Jeanne Gibson.
Gibson, who died on July 29 at age 100, grew up in Minneapolis before heading to Seattle to help build Navy destroyers as a welder during the war. She is believed to have been one of the last surviving Rosie the Riveters.
In the decades that followed, she dedicated herself to making sure the stories like hers would not be forgotten, volunteering at the Rosie the Riveter World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, Calif.
Tammy Brumley is a fellow volunteer known as the park’s “Rosie Wrangler.” She was also a close friend of Gibson’s in her final years of life. Brumley said the women known as “Rosies” were essential to victory in World War II when they took on jobs that had traditionally been for men after millions left to serve in the military.
“They stepped up,” Brumley told Minnesota Now guest host Kelly Gordon. “Whether it was typical riveters or welders, or people making parachute pins or K-rations, anything for the war effort.
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