SPRINGFIELD – A wide age range of vehicles and people gathered outside The Arc Lane County last weekend for a cars and coffee revolution competition, hosted by Women of American Muscle and featuring guest speakers Rosie the Riveters.
Newer Dodge Challengers, Ford Mustangs, Chevrolet Corvettes, and Sting Rays filled the parking lot, along with older classics like the Plymouth De Luxe, Pontiac Firebirds, Chevy Bel Airs, and Chevelles.
Women of American Muscle (WAM) is a women’s car club whose culture brings women together to share their love for American Muscle cars of every generation. Women of WAM encourage, inspire, and support each other in life, and maintain a safe space where all women feel welcomed. The group was founded by Tiffany Mocabee and Annie Nelson.
“When we started Women of American Muscle in 2022, we just wanted to drive our cool cars with our friends,” Nelson said. “I don’t think Tiffany and I ever thought for a moment that we would make any real impact on the car community. We hoped to change the culture and be encouraging and empowering.”
Around 100 folks came to check out the engines, paint jobs, and wheels, and to listen to the rich history shared by the Rosies. Yvonne Fasold, a past president of the American Rosie the Riveter Association and second-generation Rosie, said she and Nelson met during the Creswell Fourth of July parade and have been working together since.
“Women of American Muscle has had an existing relationship with the Rosies for about a year now, and they paved the way for women like us to be able to do things that are all about community, friendship, and just being together. We’re happy they’re here,” Nelson said.
During World War II, millions of men were drafted into the military, creating a labor shortage. Rosie the Riveters are women aged 95-100 years old who worked in factories during that time, building ammunition and airplanes. They symbolize the vital contributions of women to the workforce during the war and have become an enduring icon of female empowerment and gender equality.
Millions of teenagers, young adults, and even senior citizens helped build 80,000 landing craft, 100,000 tanks, 300,000 aircraft, 15 million guns, and 41 billion rounds of ammunition, while also maintaining their home lives and raising children. Two women who lived through that experience shared their stories last Saturday.
Our local Rosies
Doreen Kilen is 100 years old. She started working as a lathe operator at Monarch Forge & Machine while she was a senior at Lincoln High School in Portland. She said she made parts for Liberty ships.
Kilen worked alongside her father but said he would pocket her paychecks.
“I didn’t know how much money I made, but in the summertime he asked if I wanted a fur coat, because mink was in, or if I wanted to go to college, so I went to Oregon State; (it’s) where I met my husband,” Kilen said.
Dolly Marshall is 97 years old. She was 13 when she started learning to spot enemy aircraft from a high school football team’s press box overlooking the Atlantic Ocean from New Jersey.
“We studied to be plane spotters to identify domestic and foreign planes,” Marshall said.
A group of high school students would take shifts in the press box, the highest point in town, identifying aircraft by their silhouettes and reporting them. Luckily, they never encountered any enemy aircraft.
“But, we did know that submarines were sinking our ships because the beaches were covered with big globs of tar from the ships, and whenever you went down to the beach, you had to have kerosene,” she said. Kerosene was used to clean tar.
Fasold said Rosies typically remain active in their communities their entire lives by sharing their history. In 2024, the Rosies, as a group, received the oldest and joint-highest civilian award, the Congressional Gold Medal.
