Missouri has a newly-recognized hero. Please join the Silver Leaf Benefit Club and Missouri legislators at the Cassville Middle School FEMA Event Center on Aug. 2 from 1-3 p.m., for a drop-in reception to honor 97-year-old Barry County “Rosie the Riveter,” Hilda Howell.

Howell, a member of the National Rosie the Riveter Association (NRRA), was one of 27 women (aged 96-107) — and the only one from Missouri — who traveled to Washington, D.C., in April, to accept a long-awaited U.S. Congressional Gold Medal on behalf of all Rosies.

Rosie the Riveter represents some 6 million American women who entered the workforce during World War II to manufacture aircraft and military supplies while men were fighting the war overseas. The non-profit National Rosie the Riveter Association (NRRA) was formed in 1998 to “recognize and preserve the history and legacy of working women, including volunteer women, during WWII.”

During the war, Howell (then, Hilda Campbell) manufactured fuel cells for bombers, part-time, at a Firestone production facility while attending high school in southern California.

“I just did what needed to be done at the time,” she said.

For the past 12 years, Howell has lived with her daughter and son-in-law, Gwen and Dennis Kelly, in the historic Corsicana community, west of Purdy, in Barry County.

Join in honoring Howell, a war hero of a different stripe, who has memories from WWII that dwindling numbers can still share.

Special recognition for Ms. Howell is scheduled for 1:30 p.m.

The FEMA Event Center is located across from the football stadium, on the Cassville Middle School campus at 1501 Main Street in Cassville (From Main Street, turn north on Y Highway, then take an immediate right on Wildcat Drive to the FEMA Event Center).

For more information, people may contact Silver Leaf Benefit Club representative Sheila Harris at SheilaHarrisads@gmail.com or 417-669-3667.