Family and friends gave an emotional final farewell on Wednesday, Dec. 6, to Elinor Otto, a longtime Long Beach resident and one of the original “Rosie the Riveters” from World War II.
Otto, who worked for nearly seven decades as an aviation riveter on everything from fighter planes and bombers to commercial jets and the C-17 Globemaster III, died Nov. 12 in a hospital in Las Vegas, just two weeks after celebrating her 104th birthday. She had a stroke and fell in her house, where she had moved after living almost half a century in Long Beach.
Her life was celebrated at a gathering of some 50 people at the Forest Lawn Chapel on San Antonio Drive, in Long Beach.
“She was feisty and full of energy all her life,” said Wayne Rowson, Otto’s great-nephew, who described the adventurous and colorful life of his aunt, who was born Oct. 28, 1919, in Los Angeles.
Otto moved to San Diego, where she started her first riveter job for the Rohr Aircraft Corp. in Chula Visa in 1942, a few weeks after the Dec.7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor. After the war, she was laid off twice and then learned that Douglas Aircraft was hiring riveters.
So she moved to Long Beach and spent nearly 50 years at Douglas, which became McDonnell Douglas and, eventually, Boeing.
During his eulogy, Rowson asked people at the celebration to raise their hands if they worked with Otto at McDonnell Douglas/Boeing.
More than a dozen people raised their hands and had smiles on their faces.
One of them was Minnie Powell, a mechanic who worked with Otto building the C-17s.
“We loved Eleanor,” Powell said. “She was a hard worker, but she was also great fun to be around.”
While she was working as a riveter, Otto developed a reputation for her energetic work style. At only 5 feet, 2 inches tall and 103 pounds, the red-haired Otto became a legend for the way she whipped around the assembly line — handling the heavy riveting gun with ease. She was an independent-minded woman who was a trailblazer for thousands of women who followed her.
After decades in Long Beach, Otto moved to North Las Vegas in 2019 after her grandson, John Perry, with whom she had been living, died unexpectedly. Otto moved in with Brenda Wynne, her great-niece, who was holding Otto’s hand when she died.
In her talk, Wynne said her great-aunt was “just a true joy to be around. It was great to have the time to spend with her.”
Wynne, who was fighting back tears throughout her eulogy, choked up when she talked about her daughter, who died.
“Elinor was such a great help to me when I lost my daughter,” Wynne said. “I will never forget her.”
Wynne said one of Otto’s happiest days was when she celebrated her 100th birthday and went to a concert in Las Vegas to see her idol, Engelbert Humperdinck.
“Years ago, Elinor became a big fan of Humperdinck and was in his fan club,” Wynne said. “She loved going to his concerts, the last one when she turned 100.”
In her casket, which was open during the celebration, there was a necklace in Otto’s hands with a brooch bearing a photo of Humperdinck.
Before she died, Otto joked with Wynne about having “a little bit” of Humperdinck with her on her eternal journey. Otto also was wearing a burgundy blouse — the same blouse, Wynne said, that she wore to see Humperdinck on her 100th birthday.
Other speakers included family members Phillip Rowson, Nina Lemons and Sammy Jo Ashton. They all spoke about Otto’s energy, her cheerful personality and how much fun she was to be around.
Wynne said Otto talked about her frail health before she died.
“She wanted people to enjoy her life and not be sad,” Wynne said.
Otto also said she wanted to be buried in the city she loved, specifically at Forest Lawn, where her mother, son and grandson are also buried.
And she must be smiling, because the cemetery is only a few minutes away from the McDonnell Douglas-Boeing plant, where she spent a half century of her life as one of the original Rosie the Riveters.
During his eulogy, Wayne Rowson said Otto didn’t consider herself a celebrity, although she received accolades from many organizations, including a coveted award from the American Veterans Center in Arlington, Virginia, honoring her for her role in breaking down barriers for women in the workplace.
At the end of the eulogies, a video of Otto’s life was shown on a giant screen.
Otto never thought of herself as a hero.
“I was just doing my job like thousands of other women,” she used to say.
At the end of the service, Rowson said he was sure that Otto was looking down on the celebration of her life and was asking, “Why are they making such a big fuss about me?”
Source: Orange County Register
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