Award ceremony set for July 17 in Morgantown
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Dominion Energy will award $1,500 to “Thanks! Plain and Simple, Inc.” to continue the organization’s work with ‘Rosie the Riveters’ while these historic women are still able participate in how their own legacy is passed to the public today and into future.
Hess made truck tires in Akron, Ohio, at age 15. Her family had left a farm in Roane County that had no running water or electricity to move to Akron soon after the attack on Pearl Harbor.
“My life has changed since I started working with “Thanks!” in 2015. I knew women did work that needed to be done, but I had no idea there were as many Rosies working on the home front as there were men who we were trying to protect in battle. I never thought of myself as a spokesperson. I’m a country girl through and through, no matter where you put me. But over the last two years I have learned so much about Rosies, how much we mean to the countries we liberated and fought beside, and the hard work and dedication it takes to get us Rosies heard. I know I speak for millions like me, and that makes it easier because I’m only one more Rosie who stands up and does what needs to be done,” Hess said.
“We have worked nine years to create projects and educational tools here in West Virginia that teach the public about what many millions of women did behind the scenes to help create the armaments, food, clothing, and information needed by the men in battle. We also teach Rosies how important their work was and still is to America. The Dominion Energy award helps us grow and show off Rosies who have been far too long left out of the fuller story of World War II,” Montague said.
“Thanks!” is orchestrating an event on Labor Day when people across America will ring bells in unison at 1 p.m. eastern daylight time. Among the locations will be five locations in West Virginia, one in Maryland, one in Virginia, several in Washington, and one in Pennsylvania. “Thanks!” is headquartered in West Virginia.
