Elinor Otto (born October 28, 1919, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

) is one of the original

Rosie the Riveter Rosie the Riveter is an allegorical cultural icon in the United States who represents the women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II, many of whom produced munitions and war supplies. These women sometimes took entirely new ...

s, and built airplanes for 50 years. She was laid off at age 95, and is known as the "Last Serving Rosie the Riveter".

World War II

The name "Rosie" was given to women who took on the thousands of jobs left vacant after men had departed for the war. Otto began working at the

Rohr Aircraft Corporation Rohr, Inc. is an aerospace manufacturing company based in Chula Vista, California, south of San Diego. It is a wholly owned unit of the Collins Aerospace division of Raytheon Technologies; it was founded in 1940 by Frederick H. Rohr as Rohr Air ...

Chula Vista, California Chula Vista (; ) is the second-largest city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the Largest cities in Southern California, seventh largest city in Southern California, the List of largest California cities by population, fifteenth largest city ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

. She joined the war effort with her two sisters, one of whom worked with her at Rohr. When Otto first joined Rohr, she was recently single and was taking care of her young son. She earned 65 cents an hour in 1942.

Post World War II

Otto mainly worked for economic reasons, because she had to take care of her mother and son. She has also said that, "I'm a working person, I guess. I like to work. I like to be around people that work. I like to get up, get out of the house, get something accomplished during the day." After the war ended, all the working women were let go. Otto tried out other jobs, like office work, but she hated being still. She also worked as a

carhop A carhop is a waiter or waitress who brings fast food to people in their cars at drive-in restaurants. Carhops usually work on foot but sometimes use roller skates, as depicted in movies such as ''American Graffiti'' and television shows such as ...

until roller skates were added to the uniform. In 1951, she went back to factory work. For 14 years, she worked at

Ryan Aeronautical The Ryan Aeronautical Company was founded by T. Claude Ryan in San Diego, California, in 1934. It became part of Teledyne in 1969, and of Northrop Grumman when the latter company purchased Ryan in 1999. Ryan built several historically and tech ...

Co. in

San Diego San Diego ( , ; ) is a city on the Pacific Ocean coast of Southern California located immediately adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a 2020 population of 1,386,932, it is the List of United States cities by population, eigh ...

. Later she was employed at

Douglas Aircraft Company The Douglas Aircraft Company was an American aerospace manufacturer based in Southern California. It was founded in 1921 by Donald Wills Douglas Sr. and later merged with McDonnell Aircraft in 1967 to form McDonnell Douglas; it then operated as ...

, which merged with

McDonnell Aircraft The McDonnell Aircraft Corporation was an American aerospace manufacturer based in St. Louis, Missouri. The company was founded on July 6, 1939, by James Smith McDonnell, and was best known for its military fighters, including the F-4 Phantom I ...

, and later became part of

Boeing The Boeing Company () is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, telecommunications equipment, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product ...

. By 2014, Otto had worked on every single C-17 plane at the Boeing plant. She was laid off in November 2014. She has appeared at the Veterans Day Parade in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and on ''

The Ellen DeGeneres Show ''The Ellen DeGeneres Show'' (often shortened to ''Ellen'' or ''The Ellen Show'') is an American daytime television variety comedy talk show that was created and hosted by its namesake Ellen DeGeneres. Debuting on September 8, 2003, it was prod ...

'' and ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

''. In 2019, a bar named after Elinor opened in Long Beach, CA.

Awards

In November 2014, Otto was honored for her contributions to the military with the Lillian K. Keil award from the

American Veterans Center The American Veterans Center is a non-profit educational organization and one of two programs of the American Studies Center. The mission of the American Veterans Center is "to preserve and promote the legacy of America’s servicemen and women of ...

. She received the special award with eight other honorees. Otto was honored by the

California State Assembly The California State Assembly is the lower house of the California State Legislature, the upper house being the California State Senate. The Assembly convenes, along with the State Senate, at the California State Capitol in Sacramento. The A ...

member

Bonnie Lowenthal Bonnie Lowenthal (born February 19, 1940) is an American politician who represented California's 70th State Assembly district. Lowenthal also served on the Long Beach City Council prior to her service in the Assembly. Lowenthal unsuccessfully r ...

as the 70th Assembly District Woman of the Year in 2014. Otto received the Air Force Association's 2017 Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Air, Space & Cyber Conference in September 2017. In December 2017, Otto flew in one of the C-17s she'd worked on, in a ceremonial flight flown by Air Mobility Command head Gen. Carlton Everhart at March ARB, California.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Otto, Elinor 1919 births Living people American centenarians Women centenarians American women civilians in World War II 20th-century American people