E RIVETER fascinating story EVERY RESIDENT AT Country Bay
efforts of joining the workforce were nothing more than just doing her job and did not find it to be a great deal. On the other hand, the United States Congress made sure these women who chose to be valiant during such a challenging time would be awarded for their contributions. In December of 2020, the “Rosie the Riveter Congressional Gold Medal Act of 2019” was enacted after being signed by the President of the United States. An overview of the bill states, “To award a Congressional Gold Medal, collectively to the women in the United States who joined the workforce during World War II, in recognition of their contributions to the U.S. and the inspiration they have provided to ensuing generations” with one of those inspirational women being our own Shirley Ryan. On June 01, 2021, Shirley was awarded the “Rosie the Riveter Congressional Gold Medal” with a certificate stating her honor. When Shirley was asked about receiving her prestigious medal, she expressed, “I really didn’t expect anything like that, and it was really something to get this award. It was a nice day,” with a grin on her face. After the war, Shirley’s working career didn’t end with being just a riveter. After roughly a year and a half of working at the plant, she was looking for a new position and stopped at the finding a new career. They asked Shirley if she would be willing to leave town
Village has a story to tell and for Shirley Ryan, hers is quite a ‘riveting’ one…pun intended. Born and raised in St. Clair Shores, Shirley has had a rather engaging life journey to now live here at Country Bay Village in Pigeon, MI. Her story begins when she graduated from Lake Shore High School in the early 1940’s when the United States was engulfed in World War II. For many women during that time, it was the norm to step up and work while many of the men were drafted to fight overseas. During the time of 1940 to 1945, the female percentage of the U.S. labor force increased to nearly 37 percent, an unprecedented number 80 years ago. For the first time in history, 1945 saw nearly one out of every four married women join the workforce. As for Shirley, she ended up choosing to join the workforce rather than pursue college after graduating high school. She landed her first job of being a riveter at the DeSoto Chrysler Plant where she worked on a variety of different aircraft. When asked about her time at the plant, she described, “We had wings, that was what we were working on. There would be someone riveting and someone bucking the rivet and we would take turns doing each job.” At the time of doing this position, Shirley’s humble attitude thought her
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