The public is invited to attend a remembrance ceremony for Doris Bier, Lewis County’s last Rosie the Riveter, this Saturday, March 1, starting at 11 a.m. inside the Veterans Memorial Museum in Chehalis, according to Lewis County Historical Society member Edna Fund.
Fund invited those who want to pay their respects to attend during public comment at the Centralia City Council meeting on Tuesday, Feb. 25.
“Doris had an interesting history. She entered the work for (World War II) at 16 years old. She couldn’t go to the Chehalis Boeing plant because you had to be 18,” Fund said. “But, she could go up to Fort Lewis and work there, and she assembled Jeeps.”
One of her fellow coworkers didn’t like working alongside a woman, and even tried convincing her father to call her back home.
“However, when she was working, she could complete two axles before morning break, two after the break and four in the afternoon. But Mr. Bill, for all day, could only do five,” Fund said.
One day, Bill thought that Bier was going to be fired after getting called out one day at work. Instead, she was given an excellency award for her work, Fund said.
“She walked in and Bill got pretty steamed. ‘He thought I had finally gotten fired, well, I fooled him.’ So that’s Doris Hastings Bier,” Fund said.
Following her award and working on Jeep assembly, she went on to craft wing sections for Boeing B-17 Flying Fortress and B-29 Superfortress bombers during WWII.
Bier was originally born in Centralia on Dec. 30, 1927, and passed away on Feb. 14, 2025, at the age of 97.
The Veterans Memorial Museum is located at 100 SW Veterans Way in Chehalis.
