The iconic World War II recruitment poster of Rosie the Riveter, painted in 1942, can be recognized world wide. Though the image lives on decades after the war’s end, the lesser known inspiration behind Rosie has passed away, NBC News reports.
Geraldine Doyle, who passed away today at age 86, had no idea for years that she was the inspiration behind the historic American poster.Doyle, who was 17 in 1942, was working as a metal presser at a factory in Inkster, Mich., her daughter Stephanie Gregg told The New York Times. One day a United Press International photographer came and snapped a photo of her leaning over machinery with a red and white polka-dot bandana, identical to Rosies, in her hair. Later on that year the U.S. government commissioned artist J. Howard Miller to produce morale-boosting posters to motivate workers and recruited women to join the war workforce. Miller used the UPI photo of Doyle as his inspiration.
Finally, in 1984, married and a mother to five, Doyle stumbled upon an article in former AARP publication Moderen Maturity magazine that connected the photo of her with Rosie.When she saw it she said “That’s me!” Gregg told the Lansing State Journal.
The wartime poster has become iconic in American culture. In the early 40’s a song was written and named after Rosie, in 1943 a Norman Rockwell illustration of another female worker with “Rosie” painted on her lunchbox was published by the Saturday Evening Post and in 1999 the U.S. Postal Service created a “We Can Do It!” stamp.
For many years Doyle signed Rosie the Riveter merchandise but never charged a penny to those who requested it. “She would say that she was the “We Can Do It!” girl,” Gregg told the Lansing State Journal, “She never wanted to take anything away from the other Rosies.”