1:50pm | The Board of Directors of the Rosie the Riveter Foundation will honor eleven women who have made outstanding contributions to the Long Beach community and business, at the first “We Can Do It Awards.”

“Just as women rolled up their sleeves and flexed their collective muscles to keep airplanes, tanks and other military machines moving off of assembly lines during World War II, these women have shown they have the ‘Rosie’ spirit to accomplish amazing things as community and business leaders,” says Fifth District City Councilwoman Gerrie Schipske, President of the Foundation.

The nominees are:

  • Public Service Award – Beverly O’Neill, former Mayor of Long Beach and the first woman elected mayor;
  • Education Award – Mary Stanton, Long Beach Unified School District Board Member
  • International Trade Award – Wilma Powell, first woman Wharfinger in a U.S. Port of Long Beach;
  • Health Award – Diana Hendel, Chief Executive Officer of Long Beach Memorial Hospital and Miller Children’s Hospital;
  • Labor Award – Jane Templin, International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers, Local 11, Vice President and Outreach Director for the Electrical Training Institute of Southern California;
  • Historic Preservation Award – Nancy Latimer, founder, Coalition to Preserve Historic Long Beach;
  • Local Business Award — Nancy McCrabb, President, Cowleco Steel;
  • Corporate Leader Award – Jean Chamberlin, Vice President and General Manager, U.S. Air Force Tanker Program, Boeing Company;
  • Arts and Culture Award – caryn desai, Artistic Director, International City Theatre;
  • Sports Award – Susan Pescar – head coach, boys’ volleyball team, and teacher at Woodrow Wilson High School.
  • Special Recognition- Terry Braunstein, Artist- for her vision and assistance in developing The Long Beach Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center.

Awards will be presented at a luncheon Thursday, October 20, 2011, beginning at 11am, in the law offices of Keesal, Young, and Logan, 400 Oceangate, Long Beach. Proceeds fund The Long Beach Rosie the Riveter Foundation, 501C3, which provide enhancements to the Rosie the Riveter Park and Interpretive Center at Clark Avenue and Conant Street in east Long Beach. For more information call (562) 570-6932.

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