Staff photo /Chris McBride Mary Callahan of Cortland, left, and Ethel McMullen of Youngstown, hold the plaques awarded to them for their dedication and service to the United States as Rosie the Riveters during World War II. The ceremony on Friday was coordinated by Direction Home of Eastern Ohio, which serves older adults in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.

YOUNGSTOWN — A bell-ringing ceremony to honor local “Rosie the Riveters” around the Mahoning and Trumbull county areas took place Friday morning at the Youngstown Historical Center of Industry and Labor.

The event was part of an effort by Cassandra Valentini, director of communications and community outreach at Direction Home of Eastern Ohio to find women from the area who worked industrial jobs during World War II.

Every year on Labor Day, Rosie the Riveters across the country gather to harmoniously ring a bell in celebration of the 5 million women that kept the country afloat during a time of war. Originally, Valentini planned to host the event at the Canfield Fair but it was canceled because of flooding in the area.

The Rosies honored were Mary Callahan of Cortland; Ethel McMullen of Youngstown; Esther Castellano of Warren and Frances Spahlinger of Lake Milton.

Two of the four women, Callahan and McMullen, made the trip to participate in the ceremony where a video was unveiled featuring pictures and interviews of the women sharing their stories.

They were honored with plaques commemorating their lives presented by Mahoning County Commissioner Carol Rimedio-Righetti, whose mother also was a Rosie and worked in a factory during World War II.

l Mary Callahan, Armstrong Cork Factory — At the age of 16, Callahan, a Cortland resident, borrowed $20 from her father to buy a train ticket from Virginia to Lancaster, Pa. in search of work. Callahan worked in the Armstrong Cork Factory in the strip district neighborhood of Pittsburgh, making thousands of bullet shells per day with little to no hands-on training.

One shift, she recalled cutting her finger while drilling a hole through a shell.

“They made a big fuss about it because back then you didn’t report injuries, they wanted to keep a perfect record,” she said.

For someone going through growing pains, Callahan described it as one of the most endearing experiences of her life. She got very little sleep working midnight shifts but it never dissuaded her from doing the job.

Looking back on the work she did, Callahan said,”It was sad to me because we knew we were making something that would end up killing a person. That’s just what it was, it was war.”

Callahan said in the video that many of the women she worked with never worked outside the home. She feels that women getting into the workforce boosted their confidence.

∫ Ethel McMullen, Truscon Steel Company — Slowly, Ethel McMullen saw the men in her neighborhood disappearing as they were sent off to a war in its infancy.

“It was like a big homecoming celebration where everyone gathered around the Erie Terminal train station to see the men off,” McMullen said.

With the focus on men going off to war, she didn’t get to have a graduation ceremony, nor did she know what she would do after leaving high school. That was until an opportunity came for her to find work as a welder at Truscon Steel Company on Albert Street. McMullen said a friend told her “Just go and see what it’s about,”

She took the bus from the West Side of Youngstown to her interview and had her first shift all in one day. Starting her day at 7 a.m., she worked in individual booths on a long assembly line tasked with welding the tank treads.

They had no fromal training beyond what they were being taught daily on the job.

“We just got better and better as the days went on,” McMullen said.

At the end of the line, Navy inspectors checked everything off, marking them with their badge numbers on what they built before sending them to where the tanks were assembled. McMullen said at the time, the thought never crossed her mind how impactful the work they were doing was.

∫ Esther Castellano, Packard Electric — Castellano’s dreams were to go to art school but when her brothers went off to war, she felt she needed to do something to help. That’s when she started at Packard Electric as a welder.

“When we first started, we had to learn to spark a welding torch,” Castellano said during the video.

During her time at Packard, she still made use of her art skills by making sure she made straight lines when working. Her role in making the terminals for the B29’s was essential to ensuring the ability for the aircraft to take flight. She said during the video that she took great pride in the work that she did.

She spent years working at Packard Electric, but when her husband came home from the war on leave and she wasn’t given time off to see him, she decided to leave the company. She will celebrate her 100th birthday on Oct. 18.

∫ Frances Spahlinger, Packard Electric — Spahlinger had no idea what she was going to be doing when she hopped on a bus with her two aunts and sister-in-law in pursuit of work. She only knew that her brothers and husband had gone to war and she wanted to contribute to the efforts from home.

She ended up at Packard Electric where she began working on the same B-17’s aircraft her husband was overseas flying.

Starting as a floor worker she was promoted to inspecting the aircraft. She later worked in the chemical lab helping to build the electrical harnesses for the aircrafts.

cmcbride@tribtoday.com