Rosie the Riveter recognition transforms woman’s life

YPSILANTI — At 101, Delphine Tedeski Klaput can finally say she knows her worth, thanks to the acknowledgement she has received from people over the last few years since she has been recognized and honored for her service as a Rosie the Riveter during World War II.

“I feel so honored, I really do,” said Klaput of the recognition she has received. “I went all through my life thinking I wasn’t worth anything, and now all of a sudden I’m getting all of these places that they’re inviting me to. I’m very honored.”

Klaput grew up in the rural coal mining town of Cadogan, Pennsylvania. Her parents did the best they could, but they were very poor. 

She said her mom worked odd jobs to help provide for them. Her father wasn’t able to work as a result of injuries he suffered during World War I.

Because of her upbringing, Klaput said she developed low self-esteem. 

“We were very poor — very poor. My dad and mother raised the three of us on $50 a month. So, you can imagine I wore dresses that she got (from care packages),” Klaput said. “They would give us flour, rice, canned goods, some clothing once a month, and that’s kind of what I lived with.”

The lack of finances greatly influenced Klaput’s decision to quit school and go work at the Glenn L. Martin aircraft factory in Baltimore. She said the work not only helped with the war effort, but it also helped her mother to care for her sister and her father. “That’s kind of why she went to work,” said Diana Kelley, Klaput’s daughter. “She gave her mom all her money except for she kept $10 from every paycheck.”

“I kept $10 because I had to eat,” Klaput said.

She explained that her uncle had found her the job at the plant, provided her with free room and board, but she had to pay for her own lunches.

Klaput said her daily life as the only woman at the factory was “not very interesting.”  She said she was in charge of a team of eight men. 

“I had to make sure that each man had a small part and that they had the blueprints to work on them,” she said. “I had to know when they were finished with that part, and I had to make sure it got to where it was supposed to go.”

She said the parts were for the B-26 Marauder aircraft and were not much bigger than a small plate. Klaput said she would take them to various places within the building that they had to go. 

“Sometimes it was at the other end of the building. Sometimes it was just across the aisle, and sometimes I took them to the warehouse,” she said. “She said there were all sorts of different parts that she helped to make. The parts went into the console of the cockpit. 

She said the best part of working at the factory was the way the guys treated her.

“They treated me like a million dollars,” she said. 

She said the planes were assembled on the second floor of the factory, but Klaput was forbidden from going there. 

Klaput worked in the factory for about 14 months from 1944 until the war ended in 1945.  

Following the war, she married and had children. She ended up moving to Michigan when her husband got a good job offer and lived in Royal Oak until she recently moved in with her daughter. 

Approximately 20 years ago, she was told by someone in Baltimore that she was not a Rosie. However, about seven years ago, she was told that indeed she is a Rosie and within the last four years, she has become very active with the other Rosies. She attends numerous events and even goes to Pearl Harbor every December to remember those who fell on Dec. 7, 1941.  

Klaput said that she has enjoyed all the different events that she has been able to attend since being officially dubbed a Rosie, but her favorite by far was going to Washington, D.C., last year and receiving the Congressional Gold Medal. 

“It made me feel like I accomplished something. Before, it was just talk. Then I got a medal, so it feels like I accomplished something. I was worthwhile, is really what it was — I finally felt worthwhile.”

“She is just full of energy, but she didn’t get any of this energy until the last couple of years,” Kelley said.  

“She didn’t have an active life, whereas now she has no fear to go up to someone and talk to them now. Whereas before she would have sat in the corner,” Kelley said. “So yeah, she has come out of her shell over the last five years because of Rosie the Riveter and being involved and the people who she’s met.”

“I love Rosie,” Klaput said. 

However, Klaput said the biggest change she has seen in the last century is in people’s attitudes.

“Their attitudes. People have changed. Back when we were growing up, people couldn’t do enough to help each other,” Klaput said.

She said her secret to longevity is to just take one day at a time. She said her advice to the younger generation is to just follow your heart. 

“Follow your heart, and you’re not going to go wrong,” she said.