She was born Marie Rose Daeges on August 24, 1912 in Portsmouth, Iowa, one of 13 children. William Howard Taft was president at the time. She was raised on a farm where she participated in all the chores and duties required of farmers. Her Catholic schooling prepared here for life even though her class only had 8 children and went to the 8th grade. Upon graduation, she worked as a maid for the family that owned the Furniture Mart in Omaha, Nebraska which was purchased a few years ago by Berkshire Hathaway.
At the age of 19 she married Clayton Anderson and had 3 girls. Looking for opportunity they moved to California in the thirties where her husband went to work in the shipyards. When WW2 broke out she went to work at Douglas Aircraft as a "Rosie the Riveter" on the midnight shift. That was a dynamic time for our country and she had fond memories of pitching in to help win the war.
At the age of 40 her husband unexpectedly died from sudden cardiac arrest and with 2 daughters in high school and the youngest in grade school, she and the 2 older girls had to find work to support themselves. She became a cook and housekeeper for several priests at a nearby Catholic church and the 2 older girls began working at the telephone company as information operators.
As her children grew up she found work at North American and was ultimately assigned to the "Apollo team" in the engineering department. Once the astronauts returned from the moon they visited North American and shook hands with many of the team members. That moment has had a lasting source of pride and a wonderful memory. Through her efforts large and small she took great pride in the idea that she raised her family while helping win World War 2 and send our astronauts to the moon and back.
She is survived by 1 of 3 daughters, 11 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, 4 great-great grandchildren, many of whom she taught to be safe drivers and good cooks.
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