#rosie-the-riveter

#rosie-the-riveter

Dozens of well-wishers turned the S.S. Red Oak Victory, a floating World War II museum in Richmond's historic Kaiser Shipyard, into a party on Jan. 31, celebrating the 100 years of life lived by Jeanne Gibson and Marian Sousa. They popped bottles of sparkling wine, swapped stories and heaped the kind of praise that Gibson remarked is usually reserved for funerals onto the women, even with Sousa missing from the festivities as she recovered from a back injury.

In a desolate corner of the Port of Richmond, dozens of women wearing polka-dot handkerchiefs and wielding blowtorches have spent the last two weeks volunteering their time to try to weld a piece of history back together. The SS Red Oak Victory is the last surviving ship of the 747 that were churned out at the Kaiser Shipyard in Richmond during World War II. Now a group of women, led by welders who know well what it is like to try to make their way in a male-dominated profession, are volunteering to restore the ship.