File:Ruth Staples (Rosie), Frederick News Post, September 4, 2018.jpg

Summary

People

Frederick joins cities worldwide in honoring their hometown Rosie the Riveters

   By Emma Kerr from The Frederick News Post ,September 4, 2018

Photo: Ruth Staples, 94, was born and spent most of her life in Brunswick. After graduating from high school in 1942, she began working on the railroad in Brunswick. She and Rosie the Riveters were honored on Monday in a ceremony in Baker Park that included special music from the carillon tower.

   Staff photo by Bill Green 

Frederick County community members honored 94-year-old Ruth Staples, a lifelong resident of Brunswick who did railroad work during World War II, with a bell-ringing ceremony in Baker Park on Labor Day.

Staples said she is proud to have done her part, and said in recent years she’s traveled and participated in many community events in Frederick County. She was famously photographed shoveling dirt on a railroad in West Virginia, and has been invited to the capitol building in honor of her work. Now, Brunswick honors Staples by having her ride in a car during the Brunswick Veterans Day Parade and through a museum exhibit.

In its third year, Ring a Bell for the Rosies gathers community members annually on Labor Day to honor the women who worked on farms, in factories, in government and beyond during World War II.

This year, the nonprofit organization “Thanks!” honored real Rosies in Philadelphia, Boston, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Winchester, Marietta, Buffalo, Greensboro, and in cities throughout West Virginia. Cities in western Europe also participated in the event.

A small group gathered in Baker Park around Staples, including Tim Wilson, a veterans volunteer who drove Staples to the ceremony, and Mary Minnis, who’s been a librarian at Brunswick Public Library for over 20 years.

“Even my mother — they didn’t always work in airplanes. They worked in whatever was necessary because the men were off to war,” Minnis said. “My mother worked in a glass factory in Morgantown, West Virginia. They all had to do their fair share, and they did. It was quite a generation of people.”

John Widmann, the carillon player who performed the bell ceremony, has been playing the carillon in Frederick County for 26 years and honored Staples on Monday by playing the National Anthem and “Thank you Rosie, for your Rivetin’ Smile” in the park.

“Ringing bells is a simple, powerful, positive way for people to do something meaninful in unity, just as Rosies did in World War II,” said Anne Montague, national founder of the “Thanks!” nonprofit. “All generations are intrigued when they meet Rosies, learn their stories, and begin to see their impact on America and the world.”