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Interview with a Real Life "Rosie the Riveter"

Anna, who is a second year client of The Benefit Bank, is 96 years young and still lives alone, except for her two cats named "Mr. Baxter" and "Pebbles." She and her two feline friends live in Morrisville, Pennsylvania in the small house that she has owned for the past fifty years.

When driving down Anna’s street, her house is easy to spot because she always takes the time to proudly display the American flag from her front porch.

Anna has a long history of patriotism, as her experiences during World War II qualify her as one of the few remaining real live Rosie-the-Riveters in America today. For those who may be a tad too young to remember, "Rosie the Riveter" was a character immortalized in a poster campaign that encouraged women to enter the workforce while the men were away at war. Norman Rockwell’s May 29, 1943 Saturday Evening Post magazine cover featured Rosie the Riveter as homage to the critical role American women were playing on the home-front. During World War II, factories in the Trenton/Ewing area devoted themselves wholeheartedly to the war effort. General Motors made a critical contribution by forming Eastern Aircraft and using what had been a GM plant in Ewing to produce Navy Avenger Torpedo Bombers. Anna served as a trouble shooter in the Quality Control Department and, when defects were identified, Anna performed the required welder/riveter duties.

After WWII ended, Anna continued working for Eastern on civilian aircraft until she retired. Anna’s definition of retirement did not seem to have anything to do with stopping work, as she then worked at a local Burger King until just a few short years ago. Of her Burger King experience, Anna says that she still misses the wonderful people that she met while working there.

Born in 1912, Anna was raised in Trenton, New Jersey and has fond memories of window shopping on Thursday evenings as a young lady. She comments that she always felt safe and secure as she gazed into the many store windows of Trenton. When Anna was only fourteen years old, she landed a job in a cigar factory on Chestnut Avenue in downtown Trenton where in those days, she remembers, there were few (if any) work related health rules. In fact, it was only after her boss at the cigar factory died that she learned that his almost constant coughing had been a symptom of the tuberculosis he had been suffering with for a long period of time. Even so, she and her friends "thought they were rich" with the $14.00 per week that they each earned rolling cigars.

To keep up with her education, Anna attended what was called Continuation School one day each week.

In school, Anna enjoyed history and geography. In her somewhat younger days, Anna memorized all of the U.S. Presidents. She recounts that when Herbert Hoover was running for president, he promised that there would be "a chicken in every pot" and that Calvin Coolidge, the 30th President of the United States, experienced a personal tragedy while in office. Coolidge's younger son, Calvin, Jr., developed a blister from playing tennis on White House courts. This blister worsened and became an infection which resulted in his death.

While Anna enjoyed history and geography, paperwork has always been another matter! Since Anna never really liked paperwork, she says that the Benefit Bank’s tax related paperwork a welcome relief.

Anna’s sole source of income is her Social Security. Admittedly, her budget leaves little room for luxury items, but Anna brightly smiles as she says that she has no complaints in life

Anna recalls how much she enjoyed her shopping trips to the Clothing Center thrift shop at the Morrisville Presbyterian Church where she was known as the "Burger King Lady." Now that her walking is a little more difficult, she can no longer navigate the tightly spaced aisles, but she enjoys reminiscing about how friendly and helpful the Clothing Center workers were to her when she was able to shop there.

While her life has not been an easy one, Anna is quick to say that she has never felt sorry for herself. Although widowed while her four children were still young – her two girls were four and six and her two boys were eight and nine - Anna is proud and happy to report that they were always well behaved as children and all grew up to be responsible citizens. Both of her sons are now retired, each having served more than twenty years in the US Army. (Color blindness prevented them from following their original dreams of joining the US Navy.) Unfortunately, Anna lost one of her daughters to cancer about five years ago and her other daughter is now also battling the same disease.

We are indeed fortunate to be in a position to help Anna, who has served her family, her community and her country so faithfully for so many years.

Anna truly appreciates the help that she has received from many "wonderful caring people" in recent years. She does not hesitate to describe the help as a "dream come true". The resources that have been made available to Anna in recent years include the Morrisville Presbyterian Church Food Center (she really enjoys fresh asparagus and anything chocolate), The Ivins House where they have coordinated many of her needs with various senior citizen services that are available within our local communities, and the Benefit Bank which, she says, has been a tremendous help in preparing her PA Property Tax Rebate forms and 2008 Economic Tax Stimulus tax filing.

A little while ago, Anna found herself confronted with a plumbing problem that, apparently due to a drain blockage, caused the water to back-up into the house. While the plumber that she had called was there repairing the problem, someone from Ivins Outreach Center happened to call. Anna was more than delighted when the Ivins House representative asked to speak directly to the plumber. As a result of the conversation, arrangements were made to have the bill paid through a local agency and Anna’s plumbing was fixed without her having to scrape the money together!