We all know the iconic image nicknamed “Rosie the Riveter”  depicting a strong American woman painted by artist Norman Rockwell and appearing on the cover of the Memorial Day edition of the Saturday Evening Post in 1943. Hair tied up in a kerchief to protect it from being seized by factory machinery, lips slicked with 1940’s appropriate red lipstick, arm flexed in a previously masculine pose she became the original image of girl power during World War II.

What many may not have known was that Rosie the icon was based upon a real woman. That woman was Mary Keefe who passed away this week at the ripe old age of 92 in Simsbury, Connecticut. While she never actually weilded a rivet gun like many women during the war, she became the ultimate symbol of the can do spirit of Americans, and specifically American women, during the war.

Though the woman in the painting bore a slight resemblence to the petite redhead, Rockwell added muscles to her frame on the cover, citing Michealangelo’s Isaiah on the Sistine Chapel’s ceiling as his inspiration. Rumor has it the painter actually apologized to his subject for making her more muscular than she was.

I prefer to remember the image the way author Penny Coleman wrote about Rosie in her 1995 book “Rosie The Riveter: Women Working On The Homefront In World War II” who said:

“the Rockwell painting “is iconic because it portrays a rarity — an image of a powerful woman with a don’t-mess-with-me attitude.”

This image represented a huge change in American culture since Rockwell was communicating to the American masses that women could help out in ways they had not before while the “boys” were away at war.

In an interview later in her life she described the experience:

“When she posed for his photographer, she wore dungarees, changed from saddle shoes into penny loafers and was equipped with both a visor and superfluous goggles. Rockwell added touches to make her look more feminine, she said, tucking a gold-trimmed compact and lace-edged handkerchief in her pocket and having her wear lipstick, rouge and polished nails — to “make you think of it being a feminist woman, but also working for the war effort,” she said”

To many women Rosie represented the ultimate in American feminist ideals, not just during the war but for generations beyond. For me, she represented the ultimate in feminine strength. A woman who was gorgeous, independent, strong and smart. Everything a girl would want to be when she grew up. Somewhere along the line, feminism got lost-I blame Gloria Steinam and her ilk who attach feminism to things like abortion.

For this strong, intelligent woman Rosie will continue to be my ideal vision of feminist values.