Uploaded August 2026 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
The National WWII Museum mourns the loss of WWII Rosie the Riveter and dear friend Jeanne Gibson, who passed away Wednesday at age 100.
A Minnesota native, Gibson left home at 18 to join the wartime workforce as a welder at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle. From 1944 to 1945, she worked six days a week building destroyers for the US Navy. She went on to work for the Army Transportation Corps embarkation center in Juneau, Alaska, compiling manifests and hatch lists for ships carrying supplies to the Pacific theater. After the end of World War II, Gibson pursued higher education at UC Berkeley, where she earned a doctorate in educational psychology. She taught in the Berkeley public school system for over 30 years.
As a Rosie the Riveter of World War II, Gibson was a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2024 and of The National WWII Museum's American Spirit Award in 2026, in recognition of the group's invaluable wartime contributions. We are grateful for Ms. Gibson's service and friendship, and our thoughts are with her family.
The National WWII Museum mourns the loss of WWII Rosie the Riveter and dear friend Jeanne Gibson, who passed away Wednesday at age 100.
A Minnesota native, Gibson left home at 18 to join the wartime workforce as a welder at Todd Pacific Shipyards in Seattle. From 1944 to 1945, she worked six days a week building destroyers for the US Navy. She went on to work for the Army Transportation Corps embarkation center in Juneau, Alaska, compiling manifests and hatch lists for ships carrying supplies to the Pacific theater. After the end of World War II, Gibson pursued higher education at UC Berkeley, where she earned a doctorate in educational psychology. She taught in the Berkeley public school system for over 30 years.
As a Rosie the Riveter of World War II, Gibson was a recipient of the Congressional Gold Medal in 2024 and of The National WWII Museum's American Spirit Award in 2026, in recognition of the group's invaluable wartime contributions. We are grateful for Ms. Gibson's service and friendship, and our thoughts are with her family.
