The Inter-Mountain photos by Taylor McKinnie Above, front row from left, former Rosie the Riveters Lorraine Moran, 101, and Juanita Morgan, 102, center, stand with Elmer Brown, left, from American Legion Post 96 in Belington, and Mike Cardinal, right, from American Legion Post 29 in Elkins, before the groundbreaking for the future Rosie the Riveter statue Monday morning. Back row, from left, are Debbie Strahan, Rhett Dusenberry from Congressman Riley Moore's office, State Senator Robbie Morris, Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco, Randolph County Commission President Chris Siler, Lynn Phillips, State Senator Bill Hamilton, and Emma Scott Garden Club President Linda Shomo.

ELKINS — The official groundbreaking for the Rosie the Riveter statue took place at the All-Veterans Memorial Park on Monday morning.

More than 40 officials and members of the community were in attendance to witness the groundbreaking for the new monument, which will honor the women, known as Rosies, who worked and received pay for any essential work during World War II.

Two of Elkins’ living Rosies, Lorraine Moran, 101, and Juanita Morgan, 102, were also in attendance and helped break ground for the monument.

“There’s nothing these ladies couldn’t do or wouldn’t do, and we are very thankful for what you all have done,” Randolph County Commission President Chris Siler said during the ceremony, addressing Moran and Morgan. “Without you all, I don’t believe we would have won World War II quite as quickly as we did.”

The statue has been a multi-year project of the Emma Scott Garden Club. ESGC President Linda Shomo informed the crowd that while the Rosie statue is her last project as club president, the club still intends to turn the entire field at the All-Veterans Memorial Park into a proper veteran’s park with walkways, landscaping and more under the leadership of Debbie Shahan, who will take over for Shomo as president.

“My project is going to be the continuation of the Rosie project,” Shanhan told the crowd on Monday. “There will be walking paths and flowers. When it’s totally done, it’s going to be stunning.”

The ESGC is the first Garden Club in the world to ever erect a Rosie the Riveter statue, Shomo told The Inter-Mountain in a previous statement.

Speeches during the ceremony were given by Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco, Siler, State Senator Robbie Morris, State Senator Bill Hamilton, Lynn Phillips from Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s office, Rhett Dusenberry from Congressman Alex Mooney’s office and the children of Moran and Morgan.

“They say behind every good man is a great woman, and the epitome of that is World War II, with the men fighting overseas and the women were here at home, making sure America kept moving forward,” Morris said in his speech. “It’s great that the City of Elkins is honoring the Rosies of this country with a statue here in Elkins, Randolph County where we honor, celebrate and appreciate our veterans.”

The 6-foot, 3-inch statue arrived in Elkins from Provo, Utah on May 5. The statue, which cost the ESGC $67,000, will be placed in All-Veterans Memorial Park, just down the hill from the Gold Star Families Memorial Monument that was erected on June 10.

“Today was a great opportunity to show how vision came to reality,” Marco told The Inter-Mountain after the ceremony on Monday. “After a lot of hard work by the Emma Scott Garden Club, (Linda Shomo), the Randolph County Commission, the City of Elkins and a lot of veterans groups, the statue has become a reality. It’s going to help generations to come to understand the roles Rosies played when our soldiers were overseas fighting during World War II.”

A parade and unveiling for the Rosie the Riveter statue will be Friday at 9 a.m. The parade, Shomo told The Inter-Mountain, will begin at the Pizza Hut on Harrison Avenue, go onto 11th Street, then Davis Avenue, and turn onto 4th Street before continuing on Railroad Avenue, and ending at the All-Veterans Memorial Park, where the statue will be placed.

Elkins Mayor Jerry Marco addresses the crowd at the official groundbreaking ceremony for the Rosie the Riveter statue on Monday morning.