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| 1951 Aunt Virginia,aka Jinx with the PPG Forklift |
This week, Alan plucked us from leisure with that 4 letter word that makes me shudder in retirement land, work. I have many photos I could have contributed, but this week, I feature one I have previously shared of Mom's sister, my Aunt Virginia (Konesky Irwin) who worked over 40 years at the Pittsburgh Plate Glass (PPG) factory in Creighton, PA. I particularly like this photo of her with the forklift because of the story she shared with me to encourage me to never back off from learning something new nor shirk responsibility. I was blessed to have a forward thinking strong, independent woman like her in my life, but then our family was filled with such women. She volunteered to learn to operate the forklift because she knew that whatever she learned could only benefit her in the long run, the more skills the better off she would be. She was working in a factory and making good money for herself but she was ambitious too. While the rest of the factory workers, predominantly men by that year, declined to do anything extra, she was eager. But, as she related, her new skill generated lots of ill will towards her, especially from the women who thought she had over stepped her boundaries. She never accepted that because she explained during the war, the women ran the factory while most of the men were off fighting and so why wasn't she just as capable now, especially when no one else wanted to do this. But jealousies and bickering can be part of any workforce, factory or office. Jinx figured she could make more money at this and it would be easier than some other tasks.
I found this clipping among her photos after she died in 2009. This would have been in 1945 by the reference to her age and address. I never heard this story and would have been a baby when it happened. I thought it interesting that this accident would have been reported in the local newspaper. I also found this photo with "ready to go to work at PPG" on the back, from 1943. I remember those dresses in the 1950's as a kind of chambray. I don"t know how the women worked in those, but perhaps they had coveralls that they changed into at the plant.
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1943 Virginia "Ready to go to work
at PPG" |
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| 1971 PPG Virginia, left with a friend, right, at their shop floor Christmas Party |
Above is another of my aunt with an unknown woman in 1971, at the potluck Christmas party that they enjoyed on the shop floor. I cannot determine what the other woman is holding up near her head because this photo is not very clear. This was the year that Jinx played Santa adorning herself with full costume because no one else would do it. Jinx never weighed more than 100 pounds and was about five foot six inches in height, she was strong, muscle and bones. That makes it all the more humorous that she would be Santa, but she did. Again, doing what no one else would do, not learning more but just doing this for some fun. So here is "Skinny" which was one of her nicknames all her life, as Santa. She certainly worked hard at a nontraditional place for women, but she could enjoy herself too.
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| Skinny Santa 1971 |
Click here to go to the Sepia Saturday site and enjoy others posts about work.
http://sepiasaturday.blogspot.com/2012/03/sepia-saturday-119-work.html
A timely reminder for us all that not only did women workers contribute their full share to the world of work, but often had to fight for the right to do so.
ReplyDeleteWhat an extraordinary woman your aunt was. This is such an enjoyable and well-written post, with fascinating pictures as well.
ReplyDeleteAunt Jinx looks like one of those Rosie the riveter types that became so popular during WW II. Tom
ReplyDeleteI have to remember to look here for comments after disabling the word verification, following advice of a few freinds. No matter how early I think I am on a Saturday AM here across the big pond others are ahead of me in commenting.
ReplyDeleteShe reminds me of my late great aunt Snooky, who worked as a line setter at a print shop for many years. Being feisty and willing verbally give as good as she got was a necessity working with the boys. By the time I got to know her, Snooky's language had cleaned up considerably.
ReplyDeleteI tried some filters on the photo with the friend, but cannot pull out much detail on the mysterious object. My best guess is a headset and mike combination, the heavy kind used on factory floors.
Super post Pat- your aunt was a great role model!
ReplyDelete"Skinny" was quite a woman! You don't see much of that kind of work ethic anymore...and probably not even then. She made a very cute Santa.
ReplyDeleteBarbara
How sad that they had their Christmas party right there in the factory. You'd think the boss could have at least hosted the party at a local restaurant or hot.
ReplyDeleteNancy
I think it was not on Christmas Day because the plant closed for the Day then and the time between Christmas and NY, without paid time off. This was back when the employees took it on themselves to host a party. Doubt the factory corp. owners ever gave a thought to hosting a party or even bringing in a cake.
DeleteYour aunt had the right attitude about work.
ReplyDeleteOh what fine photos of such hard workers, but most of all I just catching Santa hard at work too!
ReplyDeleteThank you for letting us get to know your aunt. Sounds like a strong, interesting person.
ReplyDeleteEnjoyed your post. Sounds like your aunt was a smart woman with a strong work ethic and always looking to improve herself. Imagine she was a well thought of employee and the other women were just jealous. Some things never change! By the way, she made a cute Santa!
ReplyDelete13 stitches and the injury not regarded as serious. What fun the H&S gurus would have in today's compensation culture.
ReplyDeleteA hard working lady who deserved to succeed. A fine post and photos.
These are the women of history that history likes to forget.
ReplyDelete