( CNN ) As the model for Norman Rockwell 's `` Rosie the Riveter , '' Mary Doyle Keefe became the symbol of American women working on the home front during World War II . The 92-year-old died this week at her home in Simsbury , Connecticut . As a 19-year-old telephone operator , Keefe posed for the famous painting that would become the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29 , 1943 . Although she was petite , Keefe was transformed into the iconic -- and burly -- embodiment of the character by Rockwell . `` Other than the red hair and my face , Norman Rockwell embellished Rosie 's body , '' Keefe said in a 2012 interview with the Hartford Courant . `` I was much smaller than that and did not know how he was going to make me look like that until I saw the finished painting . '' People we 've lost in 2015 . Keefe pocketed $ 10 for the two mornings of modeling work she did in Arlington , Vermont . Rockwell lived in neighboring West Arlington at the time . `` Rosie the Riveter '' is often confused with another popular image from the same era . The poster shows a woman flexing her arm under the slogan `` We Can Do It . '' It was part of a nationwide campaign to sell war bonds , but is not the same character . Still , many folks on social media paid tribute to Keefe using the image . Both show the key role women played in the war effort .
`` Rosie the Riveter '' appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29 , 1943 . The story was about a young girl who had been sent to work in an American munitions factory during World War II and how she helped her fellow workers survive by sewing uniforms for them.