[MAIL] One of the original women who are thought to have inspired Rosie the Riveter has died at the age of 95. At 19, Rosalind P. Walter, from New York, was one of many women to pitch in during World War II, working on an assembly line as a riveter on Corsair fighter planes in Connecticut.
She and women like her became the inspiration for the 1942 song 'Rosie the Riveter' and the subsequent 'We Can Do It!' poster produced by J. Howard Miller.
According to the New York Times, Rosalind ‐ whose friends actually called her Roz ‐ was born on June 24, 1924 and grew up privileged on Long Island, New York.
She attended the upper-class Ethel Walker School in Simsbury, Connecticut.
When the WWII effort called for women to take up jobs previously held by men, the then 19-year-old Rosalind got to work, taking a night shift working on fighter planes at the Vought Aircraft Company plant in Connecticut.
While she was working there, newspaper columnist Igor Cassini profiled her in his Cholly Knickerbocker column ‐ which reportedly caught the attention of songwriters John Jacob Loeb and Redd Evans.
Loeb and Evans wrote the 1942 song 'Rosie the Riveter,' which began: 'All the day long whether rain or shine / she’s a part of the assembly line /She’s making history, /working for victory ‐ / Rosie, brrrrr, the Riveter.'