Helen Curtis of Hawkeye holds a photo of her aunt, Marge Vroman Parsons, 92, who served the United States during WWII as a laborer at Douglas Airfield and then in a shipyard in California, earning the familiar nickname “Rosie the Riveter.” Curtis was the speaker at Monday’s Memorial Day presentation held at the Hawkeye Community Hall. (Janell Bradley photo)

Hawkeye native part of 'We Can Do It!' war effort in 1940s

Janell Bradley

Contributing Writer

When the Hawkeye community observed Memorial Day Monday, May 30, it learned of the World War II contributions of one of its own: Marjorie Parsons, 92, now living in California.

The daughter of Harry and Harriet Vroman, Marge was born in 1924. She grew up in the house where the late Edith Parker lived, although there were no street addresses at the time Marge was a child.

“Everyone in town knew where everyone lived anyway,” she laughed.

Marge’s father ran the hardware store located where the Hurd Museum is now. She attended grade school through eighth grade before her parents sold the store and moved to Rochester, Minn. There, Marge graduated from high school in 1941.

Aspiring to be a nurse she took a job in the hospital. But with World War II underway and America’s young men being drafted as quickly as they could be commissioned, her life was about to change.