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Hepler
Editor's Note: The following is the second in a series of articles about local women who served as "Rosie the Riveters" during World War II.
ELKINS -- Longtime Elkins resident Ruth May Conner Hepler served as a "Rosie the Riveter" during World War II in Virginia.
Hepler made nylon and rayon parachutes at the Dupont Laboratory in Waynesboro, Virginia.
Before taking the job for Dupont in 1943, she had moved to Covington, Virginia from Collierstown, Virginia to find work after graduating high school. She landed a job there working the night shift in a factory.
It was in Covington where she rented a house from a family friend and eventually met the love of her life.
After returning from work one morning from the factory, she saw a soldier in uniform going up the steps to one of her neighbors' houses. She had mentioned to her landlord that she saw the gentleman and thought that he was the best-looking soldier she had ever seen. The landlord introduced the two and a romance began that culminated in many happy years of marriage and five children.
The soldier, Frank Hepler, was away at war while Ruth was working in the Dupont Laboratory, and the two were reunited when WWII ended. When her handsome soldier returned from the war, he came on the train to Waynesboro, not Covington, and the two lovebirds reunited.
She recalled how exciting it was when they got the news the war was over. Everyone rushed to the train station to see the soldiers coming off the train. She said there was much fanfare as the soldiers disembarked the trains.
When Frank returned home from the war, they planned to get married. Although it was a hard decision for Ruth because she liked being able to work, she decided to leave her job and marry her soldier.
The couple lived in Covington, Virginia, where Frank found work with the Columbia Gas Transmission Company. In 1950 they moved to Elkins when a promotion was offered to Frank.
Together they had five children, but Ruth was still a fairly young age when Frank passed away in 1973. She now needed to make it on her own, because she still had a young son and two young daughters to raise.
She had always wanted to be a nurse, so at age 54 she found a way to enroll in Davis & Elkins College and fulfill her lifelong wish of becoming a registered nurse. After graduating she had a long career as a nurse. At age 90 she still worked four days a week.
Ruth, who is now 97 years old, is currently a resident of Lavender Fields Assisted Living Home in Beverly.
Many people met Ruth through her work and she is very gratified when people tell her she trained or nursed them. Most recently an aide at Lavender Fields reminded Ruth that she trained her and her mother in the CNA program.
Ruth recalled a scary moment during her time working for Dupont when she spilled a chemical on herself while working in the laboratory. She said the chemical splashed on her face, but luckily she had on her glasses, which shielded her eyes from any damage. Despite that incident she loved her job, adding she felt she was very good at it. She also felt a sense of pride about contributing to the war effort.
Ruth said she was shocked on April of 1945 when then-president Franklin D. Roosevelt passed away suddenly while in Georgia. Officials put his body on a train to transport it from Georgia to Washington, D.C. Ruth remembers riding her bicycle to the train station to see the train pass by with the fallen U.S. president.
Ruth, who says she has lived a long, interesting and blessed life, was born on Feb. 26, 1924, in Collierstown, Virginia. She came from humble beginnings and grew up on a farm where her mother and father worked very hard to raise their family. Ruth had to ride a bus 20 miles to Milboro, Virginia, to attend high school.