Model for Norman Rockwell's 'Rosie the Riveter' Dies at 92

Mary Doyle Keefe, the telephone operator whom Norman Rockwell beefed up for his iconic "Rosie the Riveter" cover of The Saturday Evening Post in 1943, has died at 92 in Simsbury, Connecticut, a funeral home confirmed.

Keefe, who lived in a retirement home for the last eight years of her life, died peacefully Tuesday, Cameron Funeral Home of Granbury said. A graveside service is scheduled for Saturday in Bennington.

The Post cover became one of the enduring symbols of homeland unity during World War II, when women stepped in to the jobs of millions of men who'd gone off to battle. It depicts Keefe holding a rivet gun and a lunchbox with the name Rosie on it, with her feet resting on a copy of Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf."

While a similar image — a cartoon of a woman also flexing her muscles under the word balloon "We Can Do It!" — has widely been identified as Rosie the Riveter, it was actually a Westinghouse Electric worker morale poster that didn't become famous until long after the war, according to the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History.

Keefe grew up in Arlington, Vermont — the next town over from West Arlington, where Rockwell lived. She was paid $10 to pose for the painting, which was reproduced on the cover of the magazine's May 29, 1943, issue and which hangs in the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas.

In 1967, Rockwell sent Keefe, a small woman, a letter to apologize "for making me so large," she told The Saturday Evening Post in August 2013.

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSInflation and tariffs push U.S. holiday spending projections to a record $1.7 trillion

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat happened inside the room where officials tried to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow we reported the saga of the CIA officer and his gold-bar stash

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We’re going to beat you to death with audits’: Brad Raffensperger gears up to oversee his final election in Georgia

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDiddy is punished following NBC News report on his VIP life in prison and contraband cellphone use

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Too young to vote, old enough to be tear gassed’: French protesters’ anger swells

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDOJ gets aggressive in suing states that challenge Trump’s immigration policies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJustice Department seeks criminal charge for former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I just want to hold him’: USS Lincoln sailor to meet his 10-month-old son as ship docks

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenate candidates run on raising Social Security taxes for higher incomes to prevent benefit cuts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussian operation that used ChatGPT tricked schools, a politician and media, OpenAI says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLatino voters reject Trump’s immigration policies — and detail the personal impact

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAs Democrats eye big midterm gains, the Wisconsin governor’s race remains a nail-biter

FOR SUBSCRIBERSU.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterm elections

Slide 1 of 1

For Subscribers

FOR SUBSCRIBERSInflation and tariffs push U.S. holiday spending projections to a record $1.7 trillion

FOR SUBSCRIBERSWhat happened inside the room where officials tried to execute Christa Pike by lethal injection

FOR SUBSCRIBERSHow we reported the saga of the CIA officer and his gold-bar stash

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘We’re going to beat you to death with audits’: Brad Raffensperger gears up to oversee his final election in Georgia

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDiddy is punished following NBC News report on his VIP life in prison and contraband cellphone use

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘Too young to vote, old enough to be tear gassed’: French protesters’ anger swells

FOR SUBSCRIBERSDOJ gets aggressive in suing states that challenge Trump’s immigration policies

FOR SUBSCRIBERSJustice Department seeks criminal charge for former Trump aide Cassidy Hutchinson

FOR SUBSCRIBERS‘I just want to hold him’: USS Lincoln sailor to meet his 10-month-old son as ship docks

FOR SUBSCRIBERSSenate candidates run on raising Social Security taxes for higher incomes to prevent benefit cuts

FOR SUBSCRIBERSRussian operation that used ChatGPT tricked schools, a politician and media, OpenAI says

FOR SUBSCRIBERSTrump administration’s deal with Nevada fuels data center fight in governor’s race

FOR SUBSCRIBERSLatino voters reject Trump’s immigration policies — and detail the personal impact

FOR SUBSCRIBERSAs Democrats eye big midterm gains, the Wisconsin governor’s race remains a nail-biter

FOR SUBSCRIBERSU.S. military prepares new Iran war options ahead of midterm elections

Slide 1 of 1

"I did have to make you into a sort of a giant," Rockwell wrote.

Keefe lived a quiet life, marrying and raising four children, according to the funeral home. But she did enjoy her fame. She regularly appeared at World War II commemorations, and in 1994, on the 50th anniversary of D-Day, she appeared on "The Tonight Show" and drilled several screws into a board, The Post said.

• Add to Google

Member of ‘Rosie the Riveter’ brigade still going at 93

03:46

IN-DEPTH

• 'I Can Do Anything a Boy Can Do': Girls Learn Carpentry Skills, More at Rosie's Girls Camp
• How Norman Rockwell Used Photography to Create His Iconic Paintings

SOCIAL