“When I found out about a year and a half ago that she walked the same hallways that I walked here, it was too special to not get her back here one last time.”
Kyle Hansen is Director of Transmission Engineering at RENK America, a Muskegon manufacturer that builds parts for military combat vehicles. When he found out that his grandmother, Carol Anderson, worked for a year at the factory in 1944, he knew he had to bring her back for a visit and to honor the work she did during World War II.
“Every few months we’d ask her if she was ready for a visit back here and it took some convincing but she finally agreed to it a couple months ago and so we jumped on it and we wanted to make it as special as possible.”
Anderson and her family were taken on a tour of the factory. Management also presented her with a plaque and a poster featuring her likeness as Rosie the Riveter, a cultural icon representing women who worked in factories and shipyards during World War II.
“Feels pretty strange. It’s a lot different when I was here.”
Anderson says she’s proud of the work she and many others did during that time, and even more so having her grandson working there now.
“Well, I think it’s great. I didn’t know he was doing all of this.”
“You were surprised, huh?”
“Yeah, I’m surprised at all of it.”
Anderson’s plaque and poster will hang in RENK’s front office.
