Photo: Gofundme.com
The woman believed to have inspired artist J. Howard Miller’s iconic World War II “Rosie the Riveter” poster died on Saturday at the age of 96, her family confirmed to The New York Times. Sort of apropos that it was the day of the womens march.
Naomi Parker Fraley was 20 years old when she and her younger sister, Ada, went to work at the Naval Air Station in Alameda, California, following Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor.
They were tasked with drilling and patching airplane wings and riveting, The New York Times reported. A photographer touring the station snapped a photo of Fraley wearing a red-and-white polka-dot bandana as she worked a vertical turret lathe, and the image was published in newspapers around the country. The photograph reportedly caught the attention of Miller, who portrayed a flexing, bandana-clad woman in his now-iconic poster.
A Senate resolution last year designated March 21, 2017 as National Rosie the Riveter Day to honor their efforts.