The American Rosie Movement

A Rosie: Cora Davis Boyd’s Service in the WWII Defense Industrial Sector

“We are proud to have found another Rosie above 100 years old, and her exceptional daughter, Dr. Kathleen Dockett.”

 We daughters of Rosies are committed to applying the legacy of Rosies to today and the future.  It’s not about re-fighting WWII, it’s about pulling together so that all of us have a role in keeping our freedom and using it wisely

Cora Davis Boyd (age 104) was born in May 1919 in Birmingham, Alabama, as Cora Louise Jenkins. She was gifted to Charles and Helen Jenkins as the 3rd of seven offspring. After several years, the family migrated to the South-side of Chicago. Cora graduated from Wendell Phillips High School.

Cora Davis Boyd UWAC Supervisor 1942-45

Cora Davis Boyd UWAC Supervisor 1942-45

Howard Allen Davis Marine Corps Hawaii Islands

Howard Allen Davis Marine Corps Hawaii Islands

There she met her husband-to-be, Howard Allen Davis, whose family had migrated from Cleveland, Mississippi (in the Delta area) to Chicago’s Southside. Howard and Cora married in 1937 and had the first of two children in 1938, Irvin Davis. In early 1942, a second child, Kathleen, was gifted to the couple. Later in 1942, Cora joined the war effort at Universal Wheel & Abrasives Corporation (UWAC), located in Chicago. This company manufactured grinding wheels and other abrasive products for the precision finishing of metal components that went into military weapons and equipment systems. At Universal Wheel, Cora was eventually promoted to quality control supervisor and inspector. Cora served there for several years while her husband, Howard, was stationed in Hawaii in the U.S. Marine Corps as a military police officer. After the conclusion of WWII, Cora worked 40 years in the Federal Government in I.C.C. and the Department of Agriculture. Cora later remarried to Samuel Boyd in 1983. Still later, she moved to Washington, DC in 2012 to spend retirement years with her daughter Dr. Kathleen Dockett nee Davis and to be close to her son, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

Inspector Cora with workers in finishing section of UWAC

Cora with UWAC
Manager Pete

Inspector Cora with workers in finishing section of UWAC

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