Riveting Women:
Stories From After the Rosies Went Home
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When the men went overseas during the Second World War, who was to keep the Powell River mill running? Well women of course! A group which started with just fifteen grew rapidly between 1942 and 1943, and soon, women were working in all areas of the mill.
In fact, they were doing more than just making paper, they were building airplanes. In 1943, a subassembly plant for Boeing aircraft parts opened within the Powell River mill, and the majority of its employees were women. Not all women were given the opportunity to work in the mill or its temporary subassembly plant though; for many years, the Powell River Company's (PR Co.) hiring policies were exclusive of minority groups, including Indigenous people, ethnic minorities, and women. With the lack of male labour available due to the Second World War, the PR Co. opened up employment opportunities for white, able bodied women. In this photo is a group of young women sitting atop a PBY, the type of amphibious plane for which the PR Co. was contracted to assemble parts. On their faces are expressions of joy and excitement, and in this moment they are experiencing the finished product of their work. Each of these women were employed by the PR Co., and although not all of them worked in the Boeing plant, it was their combined efforts in many departments which kept the mill running throughout the Second World War. No more than a year after this photo was taken, the war ended, Subassembly Plant #185 closed, and men returned to their jobs in the paper mill from overseas. This group of women who had clearly displayed their competence working in an industrial environment would now move aside, returning to the the role expected of them by society as caretakers and homemakers. |
This is the life that most women returned to when the end of the war came. In the early 1950s, only about a quarter of Canadian women were part of the workforce, a number which would grow in the decades to come.
Now we have heard the story of the girls in the mill, the “Rosies of the North”, and the wartime effort, but the stories we do not so often hear are those of their accomplishments later in life. What did they go on to do? How this opportunity to work during the war shape their lives? |
Boeing Subassembly Plant #185
In 1943, an agreement was reached between the Powell River Company and Boeing of Canada Ltd, in which the PR Co. would house a Boeing aircraft subassembly plant for one year. From November 1st 1943 to November 1st 1944, 121 women worked inside a mill warehouse, assembling parts for Boeing’s amphibious PBY planes. These aircrafts were in high demand during the Second World War and were used for escort, search and rescue, and anti-submarine warfare purposes.
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Women's Mill Coveralls
Object ID 2014.82.1 White coveralls worn by the women who worked in the mill during the Second World War. Women worked in all areas of the mill including the beater, finishing, screen, and machine rooms, the sulphite room, machine shop, Kelley Spruce division, pulp and paper testing offices, and Boeing Subassembly Plant #185. |
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Rivets
ID 1995.89.3990 Rivets, used in the construction of the Boeing aircraft during the Second World War, were used in the Powell River Mill when they assembled the aircraft parts for Boeing's PBY. |
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Freeda Parsons
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Freeda Parsons nee Mohr
Freeda grew up on a farm near Paradise Valley where she lived and worked up until she heard the mill was starting to hire women. She applied and got the job, and soon after she was riveting PBY parts inside the mill. There, she met Walter Parsons who would soon become her husband. The couple’s relationship was well known among the ladies of the Boeing plant, and they would often be teased by shouts of “Walter, Walter, take me to the altar”. And to the altar he did take her. As an engagement gift Freeda was presented with a floor lamp, as well as a cup and saucer set from George Smith, the head of Boeing operations in Powell River. After they had finally experienced some stability following the war time years, the couple decided to expand their family. In 1949 the couple purchased the Mohr family farm on Claridge Rd where Freeda grew up. On her family farm, Freeda continued the life she knew before working at Boeing. She worked tending animals, growing vegetables, and caring for the land, but this time these duties were in addition to those of a mother and wife. |
2007.50.N02172
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nd009217
Jean Emery
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Janet "Jean" Emery nee Thomson
The Second World War was well underway by the time Jean Emery arrived in Powell River. Born in Edmonton, Jean had lived with her father and siblings in the interior of BC prior to moving to the coast. She played for the Powell River Scamps, a women’s basketball team, and according to the local newspaper she was the star player: “The starry Miss Thomson is
about the best woman scorer to show in these parts.” TC Jan 13 1941 In 1942 she married Gifford Northey, and the next year she was hired to work as a riveter in the Boeing Subassembly Plant. Like many of the other women working in the plant, she was small in stature and had to assert others that she was capable of doing the job. After the plant ceased operations, Jean began working as a clerk at Westview’s 5c-to-$1 Store. By 1950 Jean, her husband, and their daughter moved to Hope, BC where they operated a convenience store. Soon after however, the couple divorced and Jean moved to Chilliwack where she would remain.
She married again, this time to William Emery, and worked various jobs including a retail clerk, a seamstress, and a secretary, until her retirement. She passed away in Chilliwack at the age of 84. |
PR News April 23 1947
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Dodie Alderson
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Dorothy “Dodie” Alderson nee McGilvray
When the photo on the PBY was taken, Dodie was seventeen or eighteen years old. She never worked in the mill producing paper or assembling airplane parts, but she was an employee of Powell Stores, as well as a high school student. During her employment as a clerk at the PR Co. Department Store she also modeled products for the company, often appearing in newspaper advertisements. Her taste for glamour was well known, with one bowling opponent joking that perhaps she lost a bowling match because “her ’hair do’ held her down or […] made her top-heavy." Dodie started a new job as secretary at Brooks High School in late 1947, and shortly after married Doug Alderson. The couple had three children who were led by their mother into the arts, pursuing any chance to perform, and by the late 1950s the Alderson family had gone to Los Angeles where one of their young daughters began to appear in television commercials. Eventually the family returned to Powell River. In 1963, Dodie divorced her husband Doug. Now a single mother, she lived with her three children in the Bon Ton Apartments and returned to School District 47 to work as a stenographer. The Aldersons were the last tenants to live in #1 Bon Ton before the building was razed in 1969, after which they moved to Vancouver. At the age of 51 Dodie passed away and was buried in Vancouver’s Mountain View Cemetery.
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PR News, August 9, 1945
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Mildred Ross
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Mildred Ross nee Dice
Mildred Ross was an avid volunteer for her entire life. In her youth she was involved with the Canadian Girls in Training and the Anglican Young People’s Society. With the intention of becoming a nurse, Mildred dropped out of high school in the eleventh grade. Instead, she joined the Red Cross Women’s Corps in 1943 where she assembled food packages, knitted socks, and made bandages to be sent overseas. When the Second World began, Mildred was employed at Kip Taylor’s Drug Store in the Rodmay Hotel. While there, she heard that the mill was beginning to hire women so she ran down over to apply but was rejected for being too thin. So she applied again, and again, and eventually her persistence paid off and she was hired as a pulp tester. In this department Mildred primarily worked with men, and her supervisor was Mr. McGilvray, father of Dodie McGilvray. When 1946 came around, Mildred did not willingly leave, but she was retired by mill management after staying an extra year to train the returning men. Mill management did however take a compassionate stance towards the few women whose husbands were unable to work due to the war or killed in action, and they were permitted to continue working as they were not taking the job from a man but filling in their husband’s role. Fortunately the man she had married that year, Alec Ross, was alive and well. 
2012.12.1
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After taking a few years off to raise her children and moving to a new home on Willow Ave, Mildred began working as a salesperson for Columbia Stores. Mildred lived in her home on Willow for decades, only moving out to Westview after Alec passed away in 1996. In her retirement, she became one of the most dedicated volunteers at the Hospital Auxiliary, participating in bake sales and bazaars, as well as working in the organization’s thrift store. Mildred also frequented the museum, donating items from her own collection as well as those found at the Hospital Auxiliary thrift store.
ND032175
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Mildred's Donations
Notes on Jam
ID 1994.109.1 Mildred's notebook from the "Ton of Jam for Britain" project. |
Hat Pin
ID 1994.108.1 This hat pin dates back to the 1800's and belonged to Mrs. Ida Leach who came to Powell River from the Prairies in 1942. The top of the pin is engraved with "Ida". |
Christmas Tree Decorations
ID 1993.156.3667 These Christmas tree decorations were found at the Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Store by Mildred. The popularity of such Christmas Tree candles fell dramatically by the 1930s. |
Isobel Aubine
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Do you recognize this woman?
Sources have called her Isobel or Isabel Aubine, Aubin, Auline, Aubre, and Osborne, but there is no trace of anyone by those names in our records. Perhaps she was one of the many workers who travelled from Vancouver to work in the Powell River Mill during the war. |
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Sis HayesFrances Lynette "Sis" Hayes nee Toll
Sis Hayes was already an employee of the PR Co. when Boeing set up shop in an empty mill warehouse, but her wage working in the office was significantly lower than that of those in the plant. She wanted to go work in the Boeing plant with her mother Stella Toll, but was told she couldn’t leave her job in the office, so she quit in hopes of being hired back for the aircraft department. She applied multiple times over a three month period, and despite being told she was too tiny, eventually she was hired. After spending so much time building airplanes, Sis Hayes decided that she would learn to fly one herself. She took her first solo flight in 1946, and by 1949 she was the first woman to be a licensed pilot in Powell River. Over the next four years a group of aviation enthusiasts came together to form the Westview Flying Club, and in 1953 Sis was elected as the group’s first president. Living on the corner of Manson and Field St allowed her spend time at the newly built airport which officially opened in 1952. A frequent flyer by now, Sis learned to land a plane on ice in the winter of 1949. This year was particularly cold, and by mid winter the ice on cranberry lake was thick enough to drive a truck on. Roy Brett, Sis’ flying instructor, believed it was also thick enough to land a plane on, and for two weeks she practiced landing and taking off in front of a crowd of Cranberry residents. Sis was married to Calvin Hayes on August 3 1946, but in the 1960s the couple separated. For most of her professional career, Sis worked as a bookkeeper to support herself and her children. She remained active in the local flying club, and in 1971 she went on a trip to the Arctic with fourteen members of the flying club, flying her plane from Powell River to Tuktyoktuk Nunavut. Sis was also well known for taking guests up in the air with her, many of whom were trembling by the time she touched down. |
PH005681 1967
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Fifth Avenue Dress Shoppe Dress
ID 1990.41.1 This black net and taffeta party dress was a gift from Barry Loukes in memory of his mother, Mrs. (Madame) Loukes when her store "Fifth Avenue Dress Shoppe" was closed after she passed away. It was worn by Sis Hayes to a New Year's Ball at the Westview Flying Club and at a dinner at the Italian Hall. Accompanying this 1950s cocktail style dress is a satin covered belt. |
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Barbara PeckBarbara Peck nee Manwood
Barbara Peck was one of the first fifteen women to be employed by the Powell River Company, alongside her twin sister Margaret. She was an accomplished swimmer, winning the top award from the Powell River Amateur Swimming Club in 1939, 1940, and once again in 1945 after working in the mill for years. Just before the end of the Second World War she married Eric Peck and soon after they moved to Vancouver. Barbara was a member of the Pythian Sisters, and would attend meetings at the Powell River chapter when visiting her home town. The Pythian Sisters is a fraternal organization and women’s counterpart to the Knights of Pythias, but during the 1950s the organization was not open to all. In order to join the Pythian Sisters, one needed to be a wife, mother, or daughter of a member of the Knights of Pythias, as well as an English language speaker. In 1964 Barbara was widowed, left to raise her two children alone. Seeking the support of family, she moved to be closer to her twin sister Margaret who had moved to Hamilton, Ontario. As her children became adults, Barbara chose to return to BC and settled in Victoria where she passed away after a long illness at 58 years old. |
Margaret and Barbara Manwood ID PH001086
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“Whenever I meet or see any of those women who worked in the war plant, there’s always sort of a special smile from them because it was a good time for us”
- Sis Hayes
