Geraldine Hoff Doyle, the woman on whom the iconic World War 2 home-front “We Can Do It” poster and template for the “Rosie the Riveter” image was reputedly modeled, passed away today.  She was 86.

She didn’t know it at the time, of course; she’d had a still snapped for a news story by an AP photographer, and the wartime art machine took it from there.

Doyle didn’t realize she had a famous face until she was flipping through a magazine in 1982 and spotted a reproduction of the poster, her daughter told The New York Times.

It’s good to remember sometimes that the name “Rosie” used to mean “the Riveter”, rather than “O’Donnell”.  If there’s justice, maybe it will once again.

This entry was posted by by Mitch Berg on Friday, December 31st, 2010 at 12:51 pm and is filed under History And Its Making, Memoriam. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.