Women Who Contributed to the
War Effort

My paternal grandparents moved in the 1920s from their home in West Virginia to Lakemore, a small community located in the Akron area. Granddad had been employed with American Bridge Co. since his return from WWI service and was ordered to report to a project in “the largest building in the world without interior support." It was the Goodyear Zepplin Airdock.  He was familiar with metal structure details and working at great heights and at the completion of the project he was recruited by Goodyear to help build their Fleet of Rigid Airships for the US. Navy.  He moved into other departments, remaining with Goodyear util his death in early 1945.  My grandmother, widowed with all of her children off to WWII service, was offered a job at Goodyear as a seamstress to sew life-rafts.  She took the job! When the war ended, the company had to say goodbye to their female fabricators, otherwise known as “Rosie the Riveters," as their military contracts expired.  Grandma then found employment with the Akron Truss Co as a seamstress in Cuyahoga Falls, where she could walk to work. She remained there until 1967.  

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During the war some workers would slip notes into the life-rafts after final inspections.  It was hoped that those using the life-rafts would think of the women who had added to the war effort through their work. Proof that this was true was made when one of Grandma’s co-workers received a letter from an airman who found her name and address in his life-raft.  He expressed thanks for her work as the life-raft saved him after being shot down by an enemy aircraft.  

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During WWII everyone who was able in America was contributing to the war effort.  My great-grandmother was part of a sewing/knitting group in Ripley, WV.  She and her counterparts knitted sweaters for soldiers and sailors. They had to be perfect.  One knitting session found the Navy blue turtlenecks and olive green crewnecks were done incorrectly:  the green sweaters came out turtlenecked, and the navy blue crewnecked.  Grandma stayed up several nights ripping out the mistakes and correcting them before shipment.  Her dedication to the war effort was instilled in her as her father, uncles and father-in-law were all Civil War veterans, and her son and son-in-law were WWI veterans.  Her grandchildren were serving in WWII.  Born in 1869, she passed away in Akron in 1968. She will always be remembered as one of the women who was inspired by the men in her life who served, and took their example of service to heart.