At 104 years old, Roberta "Randy" Tidmore has outlived most of the people she served beside, worked beside and volunteered beside. She has lived through the Great Depression, World War II, the Cold War and the dawn of the digital age. She helped build bomber wings as a Rosie the Riveter, joined the Marine Corps during wartime, worked as a United Airlines stewardess, ran a tomato farm in Mexico and spent decades volunteering in her community. Last week, Tidmore was in New Orleans as one of 31 surviving Rosie the Riveters being honored during the National WWII Museum's 2026 American Spirit Awards, a gathering that comes as the country prepares to mark its 250th anniversary and the number of living Americans who remember World War II continues to shrink. For Tidmore, the recognition is appreciated. But she still seems slightly puzzled by it.
I don't know that we deserve all the recognition we're getting... The majority of Americans were patriotic.
That humility is a common thread among the women being honored. Many spent decades without public recognition for their contributions to the war effort, viewing their work not as extraordinary but as necessary.
Roberta “Randy” Tidmore served in the Marine Corps during World War II after working on B-26 bomber wings. (Courtesy of Randy Tidmore)
