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Veora Bliss-Baldwin, 98, tears up as she is honored for being a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II. A gathering of family and friends to celebrate her service to the country was held Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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Veora Bliss-Baldwin and one of her daughters share a hug at a surprise gathering on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, to honor her for being a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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An American flag is folded before being presented to Veora Bliss-Baldwin in a ceremony performed by four veterans to honor her for her service during World War II as a “Rosie the Riveter.” The ceremony was held Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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Veora Bliss-Baldwin and one of her daughters talk together at a surprise gathering on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, to honor her for being a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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Veora Bliss-Baldwin smiles as she walks into a surprise gathering of family and friends there to honor her for her service during World War II as a "Rosie the Riveter." The gathering was held Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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An American flag is folded before being presented to Veora Bliss-Baldwin in a ceremony performed by four veterans to honor her for her service during World War II as a “Rosie the Riveter.” The ceremony was held Friday, Nov. 3, 2023.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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Veora Bliss-Baldwin, 98 years old, smiles as she walks into a surprise gathering of family and friends who are there to honor her for her service during WWII as a "Rosie the Riveter" on Friday, November 3, 2023. Community Nursing Services offers a Senior Wish Program to each of their Hospice patients, and Bliss-Baldwin's family chose to use her wish to plan a surprise gathering of her family and friends to celebrate and honor her.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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Veora Bliss-Baldwin and one of her daughters share a hug at a surprise gathering on Friday, Nov. 3, 2023, to honor her for being a “Rosie the Riveter” during World War II.

Nichole Whiteley, Daily Herald

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World War II was ongoing when 18-year-old Veora Bliss-Baldwin and her friend graduated high school and left their homes in South Dakota with a plan to go to California.

Her friend’s brother lived in Denver, so since it was closer they decided to go there instead. With just $25 in her pocket, she bought an $11 train ticket and she and her friend rode to Denver, spent the night at the brother’s house and in the morning got jobs as “Rosie the Riveters,” a term given to women who worked in factories and shipyards during WWII to produce munitions and war supplies.

At 98 years old, and turning 99 in December, Bliss-Baldwin is one of the last living “Rosie the Riveters.” Many of these women replaced the jobs of men who were serving in the military. A rivet is a piece of metal used to join a structure together, such as a plane. Bliss-Baldwin had a job like many other women, using a rivet gun to fasten the metal sheets together to create airplanes to be used in the war.

Bliss-Baldwin can still walk with the aid of a walker and take care of herself, but she recently was put in hospice care. Community Nursing Services, a nonprofit organization, offers a wish to their patients through the Senior Wish Program. The program is completely funded by donations and is offered to every patient. The wishes can be as little as a family dinner or as grand as a skydiving simulator. Bliss-Baldwin’s family surprised her by using her wish to honor her service to the United States during WWII as a “Rosie the Riveter.”

A gathering was planned and held Friday to celebrate her life and honor Bliss-Baldwin’s service. Family came from California, Florida and Colorado. A close friend she knew in South Dakota who now lives in West Jordan attended, people from her neighborhood came to celebrate and many others from around the country came to honor her.

Bliss-Baldwin has eight children — six daughters and two sons — two of which have died. “I really do feel loved,” Bliss-Baldwin said as she began to tear up speaking with the Daily Herald. Leslie Trosper, Bliss-Baldwin’s daughter, who helped organize the celebration, said many tried to make it even just for one night to show their support.

Trosper got Bliss-Baldwin to the party by telling her they were going to the open house for the Orem temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. When Bliss-Baldwin walked through the door to people clapping for her and giving her hugs, and she saw loved ones from out of town, she said, “I was so shocked because I had no idea.” Nearly 75 family members and friends came to the gathering to support her. As she realized that the celebration was for her, to honor her life and her part in ending WWII, tears began streaming down her face.

Her ‘Rosie’ days

After getting jobs in Denver, Bliss-Baldwin and her friend searched for an apartment and found one for rent. It was a third-floor apartment, which was actually an attic converted into an apartment, with a little landing outside, a kitchen, a bedroom and a little place to put a couch which they made their living room, Bliss-Baldwin said, laughing. “That was a really good experience,” she said. Getting that first apartment is one of her favorite memories.

Bliss-Baldwin said her friend didn’t like the work, so she quit after a week and worked at a restaurant for a bit before going home and getting married. While her friend didn’t like being a “Rosie the Riveter,” Bliss-Baldwin said, “I loved it. And we had to learn how to do sheet metal and use all the tools and the rivet gun and all that. And I got put on a crew and I was the only girl on that crew.” At that time, there were only a couple of other girls working at the entire facility, she said.

“I enjoyed learning what to do — what we could do. We didn’t know whether we were going to be doing sheet metal or riveting or what. … We worked on the radios and I even did some work on the engines putting supercharges on, so it’s just all really a great experience.”

Bliss-Baldwin said she had a crew chief who didn’t think women should be working there, but soon he had seven other women on his crew. The eight women quickly became friends and throughout the war would spend their time together. Bliss-Baldwin said, “We just had a great time. We’d get off work in the morning at 7 o’clock and go horseback riding or go on a hayride or something like that. We just had such a good time. We went from Denver down to Colorado Springs for Easter sunrise service in the Garden of the Gods; we just had so much fun together.”

These women became her lifelong friends. Even after their jobs ended with the war and they moved away to different parts of the country, they stayed in touch and would hold reunions together, Bliss-Baldwin said.

Bliss-Baldwin worked with a team to prepare the planes that flew over Hiroshima and Nagasaki, which were vital in ending the war. “We worked on those planes that actually ended the war. … The next day we were out of a job,” she said. “I really enjoyed the work and making such good friends.”

Only one from her group of friends she made while working as a “Rosie the Riveter” is still alive.

Honored for serving the country

During Friday’s celebration, a program in her honor included a ceremony performed by four veterans, who folded a flag and presented it to her to thank her for her service to the country during the war. She was also presented with a “Rosie the Riveter” pin and a certificate of appreciation. “It was really special; it was just breathtaking. I cried through the whole thing,” Bliss-Baldwin said.

The certificate of appreciation was presented to her by Everett Perry, one of the veterans, who said, “We would also like to present to you a certificate of appreciation with sincere gratitude for your contributions to the United States of America. During her darkest hours, be it known by all who bear witness hereto that Veora Bliss-Baldwin served with courage, dedication and skill. We are forever grateful; a grateful nation. Your patriotic spirit and can-do attitude helped save America.”

A Congressional Service Certificate was presented to Bliss-Baldwin “in recognition of outstanding and invaluable service to the community and our country,” said Alex Johnson, deputy district director to U.S. Rep. Burgess Owens.

Lt. Col. Karl Miller, one of the veterans presenting Bliss-Baldwin with the flag and pin, said it was a great honor to meet her and her family, “because the military may have done the work but they couldn’t do it without the things you put together.”

Similar words of gratitude and honor were shared with Bliss-Baldwin previously when she was invited to go on an honor flight to Washington, D.C., for retired soldiers. When called and asked if she wanted to go, Bliss-Baldwin responded, “I’m not a military person.” She said the caller told her, “Yes, but you helped win the war.”

Bliss-Baldwin continued, “And she said, ‘You should go with us.’ I was the only one on there (the honor flight) that wasn’t a military person. I felt rather intimidated because I thought I was an outsider, but they made me feel good because they all told me that they couldn’t have won the war without us, and that was the truth.”

Matriarch of the family

While being a “Rosie the Riveter” was a large part of Bliss-Baldwin’s younger days, Trosper explained she did much more throughout her life.

After her job during the war, Bliss-Baldwin became a waitress, where she met her husband, William Bliss.

William Bliss was sitting at the restaurant talking to his friend Randy, when she and her friend walked in to pick up her paycheck after a movie. “He said, ‘Who is that girl?'” Bliss-Baldwin recalled. Randy told him she was an employee, “And the next night he was working there,” she said. It wasn’t long before they started dating, she said, and they got married when she was 22 years old, on Valentine’s Day in 1947.

Bliss-Baldwin said, “I think that was God’s plan because he knew that he wanted me to marry him. … We had a beautiful marriage.” William Bliss died at age 61.

After being a widow for a time, Bliss-Baldwin was remarried to a man she had known from high school in South Dakota named Herb Baldwin. They reconnected when she went home to take care of her aging mother. They were married for 23 years before he passed away in 2015 — also on Valentine’s Day.

After being a waitress, Bliss-Baldwin became a hairstylist and then a full time mother and wife. Later in life, she and her husband opened a Denny’s restaurant and ended up opening five Denny’s franchises.

Her family now has five generations alive at once. She has eight children, 26 grandchildren, 44 great-grandchildren with two on the way, and five great-great-grandchildren with one on the way. She has lived in American Fork for eight years.

Trosper’s son, Jim, who made a surprise trip from California to support his grandmother, told the Daily Herald, “Her whole ‘Rosie the Riveter’ thing is a dynasty; it’s legendary. But she’s our guardian, our matriarch.”

He said Bliss-Baldwin has done so much throughout her life — living through the depression, getting her K-12 education in a one-room schoolhouse, surviving two pandemics caused by viruses and helping end a world war. “And she gives the best hugs,” he added.

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