The woman who was the basis for the iconic "Rosie the Riveter" character died Wednesday at the age of 95, WNET in New York City announced Thursday.
Rosalind P. Walter, a longtime trustee for the flagship PBS station, was an inspiration behind the 1943 song, "Rosie the Riveter" which was about her time as a night-shift welder at the Sikorsky aircraft plant in Bridgeport, Connecticut, when she was only 19-years-old.
Rosalind, who went by the nickname 'Roz,' shot to fame after a newspaper columnist wrote about her life, which was then taken as the inspiration for the song by Redd Evans and John Jacob Loeb. The song honored a generation of women who entered the workforce during World War II to help keep the war effort going at home while thousands of men were sent overseas.
"Walter cared deeply about the quality and educational value of public television and understood the importance of reaching the broadest possible audience," WNET said about Walter's death.
"Rosie the Riveter" was later illustrated into an iconic poster by Howard Miller and Norman Rockwell. However, the illustration itself is believed to have been based on a photo of Naomi Parker, who worked at a factory in California at the time the song was popular.
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