Remembering Quincy's Bertha Glavin, who honored all the other Rosie the Riveters of WW II

QUINCY – They were the two Pascucci sisters, part of a large family of nine children in Dorchester who would both become known as "Rosie the Riveters" for their jobs on the home front during World War II.

Mary, the oldest, started working at age 19 as a welder at the Fore River Shipyard in Quincy. She was one of 2,000 women hired by the Bethlehem Steel Corp. from 1942 to 1945 to take the place of men who had enlisted or been drafted into the military.

Bertha, four years younger, graduated at age 16 from Jeremiah E. Burke High School in 1943 to aid more quickly in the war effort. She was assigned to work as a bookkeeper at Loyal Manufacturing in South Boston, which made raincoats for the U.S. Navy.

After the war ended, each married and raised families. Mary Kennedy and Bertha Gavin remained proud of their country and the contributions they made during the war years.

This Rosie saw the solar eclipse before she passed

Mary Kennedy died in 2019; Bertha Glavin died on April 11 at age 97. Her youngest son, Mitchell, reported, "She did get to see the solar eclipse up in Vermont!" on April 8.

Today, the cultural icon Rosie the Riveter, shown as a shipyard worker flexing her muscles, has come to represent more than 16 million women who worked during both the war years and the post-war period of the 1940s.

In 2014, at Bertha's lead, the sisters founded the Bay State Chapter of the American Rosie the Riveter Association, based in Birmingham, Alabama. Kennedy, 91, lived at the Royal Braintree Rehabilitation and Nursing Center; Glavin, 87, lived in Quincy.

As a result of their advocacy, Gov. Deval Patrick declared May 25, 2014, as Rosie the Riveter Day in Massachusetts. It was also National Rosie the Riveter Day.

In the official proclamation he sent to Glavin and Kennedy, Patrick declared: “The women left their homes to work or volunteer full time in factories, farms, shipyards, airplane factories, banks and other institutions in support of the military ... (the women) “worked with the USO, Red Cross, drove trucks, riveted airplane parts, collected critical materials, rolled bandages and served on rationing boards."

As she became active in the Rosie movement, Glavin, once active in the Dorchester Historical Society, enjoyed her new role. She joked that it had taken over her life.

'We all pulled together to get something done'

"It's a way of remembering how we all pulled together to get something done," she said. "We proved that when (women) get behind a cause, they can make a difference."

The late-in-life mission began when Glavin's son gave her a newspaper clipping about the American Rosie the Riveter Association. Glavin asked the national group to send her sister an honorary certificate as a former welder. Glavin learned that she was also considered a Rosie for her factory work during the war.

The sisters decided to start the Bay State Chapter of the national association. Glavin served as state president and planned events to inform younger generations on the important roles the Rosies had played in WWII.

With a flair for publicity, Glavin found one event soon led to another. In 2015, Glavin and family members went to New York City to a wreath-laying ceremony on the 70th anniversary of the Battle of the Bulge to honor the troops. In May of that year, the Quincy City Council honored the sisters with certificates of appreciation for the work they had done during the war.

The Netherlands also honored the American Rosies

That same year, the sisters traveled to Washington to an event held by the Royal Netherlands Embassy, honoring American women who helped win World War II. That coincided with the 70th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands at the end of the war.

And, before 2015 was finished, Glavin also participated in a national campaign to send letters to American troops who were deployed overseas; nearly 500 letters were written.

Closer to home, in 2016, Glavin organized a local bell-ringing event for Labor Day, as the national Rosie association had asked. She contacted the United First Parish Church, the Church of the Presidents, in Quincy Center with a request.

The Church of the Presidents had installed a new bronze bell in 2011 and had also refurbished the bell tower. At 1 p.m. on Labor Day 2016, the church bell rang out to honor the "Rosies" and other women who worked on the homefront during WWII.

The Church of the Presidents rang out for the Rosies

Glavin had brought her own hand bell to ring along with the church's bronze bell. She invited others to join her, which they did; she and her family repeated this event for the following three years.

To celebrate the 100th birthday of the National Park Service in 2016, the Charlestown Navy Yard in Boston had a far-reaching Rosie the Riveter program. Glavin and her family were there.

A schoolgirl comes to meet a Quincy Rosie

Glavin was especially excited about the opportunity to reach young people and in 2017, Chloe Brin, an 8th grader from West Newbury came to Quincy to interview Glavin about the Rosies for a school documentary film project at Berwick Academy in Maine.

Chloe, 14, and her mother Erin met Glavin at the Thomas Crane Library where they filmed the interview.

That same year, Gov. Charlie Baker proclaimed March 25 as Rosie the Riveter Day in Massachusetts.

The national Rosie association published a book, “Rosie the Riveter Stories: How They Did It,” and Glavin ("A Bobby Soxer Reports to Work") and Kennedy ("I wielded a Torch for Victory") were included in it.

The Pascucci sisters set wonderful examples of not only how to serve one's country, but also how to ensure that the legacies of so many others are passed along to future generations.

And don't forget the Hingham Rosies

In 2021, the Hingham Shipyard held its own Rosie ceremony, where Margaret Spalluzzi of Kingston, who worked as a welder in Hingham yard during the war, was honored on her 100th birthday.

In her obituary, Glavin's family noted that, very fittingly, "the very day before she passed away, she was happy to see on television how on April 10 the U.S. Congress had awarded, collectively and symbolically, a Congressional Gold Medal to all of the millions of Rosies throughout the country."

This article originally appeared on The Patriot Ledger: How 2 Dorchester sisters were Rosie the Riveters & kept history alive