Making HISTORY TWICE, while LIVING with Stage 4... ROSIE ON! |
Teri, with daughter Suzanne and Grand daughter Kaylie at Willow Run Airport Oct 24 2015 representing ROSIE THE RIVETER as it is announced that over 1800 Rosies were counted. RIGHT- "official photo" showing NEW RECORD NUMBER of ROSIES at 2,096 ! ! !
That's right friends... the record that was set at Willow Run on March 29, 2014 was broken in August 2015 in California. IF you look into my archives, you will see the ORIGINAL event post there... There, they had 1,084 "Rosies" gathered in Richmond CA as a part of their Celebration of the 70th anniversary of the victory in WWII (aka Homefront Victory Celebration) on August 15 2015. TWO MONTHS later, and interestingly, THREE YEARS to the DAY after Teri met the woman that started this whole craze (Jane Vass) at a craft show held as a fundraiser for the #SaveTheBomberPlant.org campaign, (see blog post under Weekly Craft and Vendor Extravaganza) WILLOW RUN once again REGAINED the GUINNESS WORLD BOOK RECORD. IT meant so much to me, having just learned that my cancer has now grown past just being in my bones... to my liver and lung as well... and my next step will be Oral Chemotherapy called Xeloda, which may or may not leave me with a weak immune system, Hand & Foot Syndrome, Nausea, and other nasty side effects... in fact, I'm thinking I might just do Christmas via Skype to stay safe...
Teri's daughter; Suzanne, called from the annual Yankee Air Museum BLUE ANGELS Air Show at Willow Run Airport in late August. She had met some of the Tribute Rosie's and had her photo taken with them. She found out that they were going to go after their beloved record and her words were; "Mom, WE NEED TO DO THIS, TOGETHER... YOU, ME, and KAYLIE".... oh man, that melted my heart and I was SO FILLED with love and PRIDE! NOTHING was gonna keep me from doing this now!!!!
I pulled together some amazing women to help us make this possible. Some of the crafters & vendors from prior events I had organized gathered together one afternoon, and we made nearly 60 "Rosie Scarves" out of fabric that was either purchased by or donated by fellow crafters/vendors. WE did this in ROSIE STYLE, and had a blast. It was so much fun, I nearly forgot for the afternoon that I was sick.
Even while working on the project at home, our gorgeous Black Cat ..Marcy Kat decided she loves this polka dot fabric. She is still wearing her polka dot collar cover, and has a polka dot "sheet" on her box bed that she sleeps on. She did her best to "help" me in the sewing room...
We had at least 15 members of our "group" which I named in honor of my late Grandfather and Father (both Veterans of Foreign Wars) TEAM HAGEN's HEROES. In this team, my own daughter and grand daughter were at my side for the majority of the event (they did venture off to explore the airplanes on their own, as I would not have been able to crawl around in them, and had some assisting to provide to the registration volunteers) I was given the royal treatment by the Yankee staff between my physical status, and with my volunteer work and support of the Yankee and everything ROSIE in the past few years. It was amazing. All in all, when the tallies were made, there were 2,096 Girls and Women dressed as Rosie the Riveter. There were 44 ORIGINAL Rosie's present in the FRONT ROW, and participating "ROSIES" came to help us from CANADA, and SIXTEEN STATES!! My only regret for the whole day, was NOT gathering our entire team, for a group photo...
I did; however, get the members of my "team" and my friend Stacy's QUARTERMANIA team to submit their photos from the day to a public album, thus consenting for me to include them here on my blog... to share with the world. Letting you all know that although I am LIVING with a terminal illness, I will continue to LIVE LIFE to the fullest... as long as I am humanly possible!!!! I AM ROSIE STRONG!
**stepping ahead to the following month, I have been invited to join the Willow Run Tribute Rosie's in the "Rosie Jeep" with my husband, and my girls walking with the Rosies... in the Belleville MI Holiday Parade of Lights on December 5th. IF you are in the area, come on down to Main Street on Dec 5, parade kicks off from the Belleville High School at 6pm. There will be fireworks set off at Belleville Lake following the parade. I am truly honored, and humbled with this... another thing to cross off of my bucket list... More special moments that CANCER WILL NOT Take away from ME, or my Girls!
Without further ado, here are all of our photos.... My apologies for the duplicates, as they were provided by many of the participants in our team, some were taken on each persons phone, making duplicates. It's too hard to sort them all out with these tired eyeballs...
OH... the American Girl Doll in the Rosie Outfit was one that I made and sold to the doll owners' mom THAT WEEK for her Birthday. I was SO HONORED to see the doll getting so much recognition that day! I also provided a certificate for an outfit for their silent raffle. I have yet to hear from the winner... :\
UPDATE: 1/28/2016 we JUST got word that GUINNESS HAS APPROVED the APPLICATION AND THE WILLOW RUN ROSIES ONCE AGAIN, HOLD THE WORLD RECORD!!!! http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/largest-gathering-of-people-dressed-as-rosie-the-riveter They have not yet (as of today) updated the photo on the posting, and the certificate has not yet been sent. BUT.... if is OFFICIAL!!!! WHOOT WHOOT!!
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