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Meet Rosie the Riveter

The program honors WWII working women.

CLOVIS — The stories of 10 different women who entered the workforce during World War II were shared at the Clovis-Carver Public Library on Saturday during a program celebrating Rosie the Riveter.

Ann Beyke portrayed nine different women in her performance of Rosie the Riveter: Working for Victory on the Home Front. Audience member Mercedes Agogino talked about her experience working at a ship yard by Portland, Oregon, around 1942 after graduating from high school.

"The fact that we had a Rosie here is just amazing. It's always such an honor to have somebody in the audience who lived this," Beyke said after the show. "That's one thing that's really great about it is the fact that in each community I go to somebody has a connection to Rosie or something that they were involved in. It's just phenomenal to hear all the history."

During her half-hour performance Beyke assumed the role of Rosies from several different jobs including a welder and a munitions factory worker who smoothed the edges of shells.

Beyke said about half of the characters are based on real people — like her own grandmother and Marilyn Monroe, who was discovered following her work at a drone factory — and the others are fictionalized accounts based on compilations of several different Rosie the Riveters.

Beyke said she always appreciates the opportunity to share the story of Rosie the Riveter and honor her grandmother and the other 6 million women who joined the workforce to aid the war effort.

"It's marvelous to be able to do this, to really live it and feel it and for me personally especially since my grandmother was a Rosie, to honor her in this way and to tell this story," Beyke said.

A Rosie herself, Agogino said she enjoyed hearing about all of the other jobs women did during World War II.

Agogino said she worked at a shipyard where she would measure and make markings on pieces of the ship for it to be trimmed. She was doing the job of a duplicator, but Agogino said the official title of duplicator was reserved for the men in the position.

"We were officially duplicator helpers and all these college boys that came in in the summer, we had to show them what to do and they were duplicators and got better pay than we did," Agogino said.

Agogino said women came to work at the shipyard for many different reasons.

"Besides helping the war effort, I wanted to earn money for college," Agogino said. "There were families from farms back in Arkansas and Nebraska that were working to save money to buy back their farm after the Dust Bowl."

Beyke concluded her performance by recognizing the importance Rosie the Riveter had on the workforce and the war effort.

"Rosie opened a door for women that would never again be closed. They were productive and respected members of the workforce and critical to the war's outcome. To all Rosies, we honor and thank you for your work."

 
 
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