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Bulletin. Progressive. Record. Reporter
Wednesday. March 2. ;011 1l
WMAT V RO|t a NAVv WAVIII ir.
REGIONAL
• 'il ,
• • ri:
Navy vet stands for everywoman in history
During World War II, thou-
sands of women like Ruby
Vocke wQrked to maintain air-
craft for pilots who depended
on them to get home safety.
Photo and additional graphics
cQurtesy U.$, National Archive
Sixty-nine years later, retired
Navy Chief Storeke,per Ruby
Vocke stands again at the
business end of a Boeing
Stearman Model 75. one of
the types of aircraft she main-
tained during World War II.
Photo by Mona Hil
- ,a
Mona Hill
Staff Writer
mhill@plumasnews.com
March is Women's History Month
and whil'o hot every woman is famous,
she still has her place in history
simply by virtue of what she has done,
Ninety-two this month and no bigger
than a minute, Ruby Vocke is a spitfire
-- appropriate considering her service in
the Navy as an aviation machinist's mate
during World War II,
At the time, American women were
active in factories, airfields and ship-
yards, filling places left vacant by men
who had gone to fight. An icon based on a
real woman working on an assembly
line; "Rosie the Riveter" became every-
woman during the war years.
In the first year, 27,000 women became
part of the Navy's Women Accepted for
Volunteer Emergency Service (WAVES},
working in the aviation, medicine,
communications and intelligence fields,
as well as in clerical functions.
For the first time since suffrage,
American women were stepping out of
their traditional roles, taking on "men's
work" and performing as well as any
man in those roles.
Invited by John Fehrman to see
Ted Miller:s nearly restored
Boeing Stearman Model 75,
Vocke visited Gansner Airfield
recently and talked about her
military service,
Born in Peabody, Mass,,
Vocke joined the U,S. Navy ............ "":
when she was 2! -- 11
months after Pearl Harbor and
five years before America had a
separate air force.
Vocke's brothers were already
serving in the military; The oldest was
in gliders, another was a Marine
and the youngest was in Patton's
Army when she was lured by the
glamour of the uniform.
Vocke went to lova State
Teachers College in Cedar Falls
for her initial training. At some
point, Navy officials wanted to
send her to radio school, She balked
and aviation it was, forever more,
From Cedar Falls, she went to the
naval air station at Norman, Okla.,
and began training as an aviation
machinist's mate,
By thetime Vocke arrived at
NAS Pensacola in Florida, she could
remove, dismantle, repair and
replace an airplane engine, Her .,
diminutive size
was definitely
an asset, allow-
ing her to get
in behind
• the pro-
peUer, qp
close to the
engine.
Vocke
worked on the
Boeing Stear:
man Model 7s,
the Navy's
biplane
trainer, and
the C-46, a
military
transport alr-
craft.
Ironically, when
the Korean War came
along, the Navy decided the work was too
heavy for women, Vocke shifted fo store-
keeper and retired as chief storekeeper
in 1962,
Following retirement, Vocke joined her
husband in Chester and they opened
Frank's, a roadside care where she
finallylearned to cook.
Yocke became a year-round resident of
Chester in 1999, seven years after Frank
died.
Vocke is actively involved as adjutant
in the American Legion's. Harry Doble
Post 664. She's a great walker and
gardener and lends a helping hand for
whatever comes up.
Proud of her service, she recommends
the Navy to young people: "They teach
you everything."
All these years later, Vocke still loves
the Navy. • "I got to see the world and got
paid," she said.
For certain, Ruby the Riveter has
earned her place in history.
A "hot shot short stop" for the NAS Flyers' softball team, Ruby
Vocke's Navy career was full of adventure; a rarity for women of the
1940s, '50s and 'G0s, Vocke and women like her were definitely in a "league
of their own." Photo submitted
!
Chief Aviation Storekeeper Ruby Vocke retired July 1962, after iO years in the Navy, Forty-nine
years later, Vocke is an active, vibrant woman, still enjoying life's adventures, Photo submitted
Plumes County Museum hosts "women in History" luncheon
This year's Women in History
lunch features Annette
Abbott Adams. a prominent
state and national jurist at a
time when law schools were
not accepting female students
and female lawyers were a.
rarity,
Keynote speaker Marilyn
Quadrio, co-director of the
Chester museum, will present
Adams' story at the annual
luncheon.
When:
Wednesday. March 30. noon
Where:
The Mineral Building Plumas-
Sierra County Fairgrounds
Cost: $I 8
RSVP;
Scott Lawson, Plumes County
Museum. 283-6106. by
Friday. March 25
Currently undergoing restoration at Gansner Airfield, this Boeing Stearman Model 7S is owned
by Ted Miller:The Model 75 was the Navy's trainer during,World War II, when Ruby Vocka and
her fellow WAVEs worked In aircraft maintenance. Photoy Mona Hill