Auburn’s Vallier chosen 21st Pioneer Queen

Published 11:35 am Friday, June 17, 2011

Once a can-do, roll-up-my-sleeves “Rosie the Riveter,” Vickie Vallier is now a queen.

The Pioneer Queens of the past selected the longtime Auburn resident to proudly wear the crown at the Aug. 12-14 Auburn Good Ol’ Days celebration and other parades and appearances this summer.

“It’s indeed an honor. I am proud to represent Auburn,” said Vallier, 87, wiping away tears of joy after receiving the tiara at a royal reception at the Senior Activity Center on Thursday night. “I am just proud to be a part of Auburn, watching it grow from a small railroad town to what it is today.”

Vallier is the 21st Pioneer Queen.

Auburn’s Shirley Morehead, 80, was chosen Pioneer Princess.

Vallier, who grew up in Kansas during the Depression, followed her family to Seattle when she was 19 to learn a trade and helped build combat aircraft on Boeing’s massive assembly line during World War II.

Vallier and her co-workers labored in Boeing’s Plant 2, a factory that cranked out a dozen B-17 bombers a day during the height of the war.

“It was a whole different breed in those days. Those gals were really workers,” said Virginia Haugen, friend and former Boeing worker for 15 years. “These women were used to hard work.”

Vallier did her part.

Like many small and nimble women, the 5-foot-6, 110-pound Vallier was able to work in side wings and other cramped spaces to install wiring, tubing and other parts.

She worked long and hard. She grew and matured. She never looked back.

“It was just amazing after growing up in such a small town in Kansas. I had never been to Seattle,” Vallier said. “It was just a wonderful opportunity. I was able to meet new people, learn a new trade and get a good job.”

After the war ended and men returned to the factories, Vallier worked a variety of jobs – from daycare worker to waitress, car hop to secretary. She worked at a plastics factory, picked green beans in the valley and volunteered at schools, hospitals and church.

She met and married a railroad worker, only to lose him to alcoholism and later, to cancer at age 39.

As a young widow, she raised a daughter, Pam, and later, took in another girl as a foster mom.

Vallier later remarried, meeting a fellow Kansasian, Rex. They enjoyed 37 years together until his death 10 years ago.

Despite hardship and depression, Vallier regained her feet with the support of strong faith, family and friends.

The Pioneer Queen crown fits a compassionate woman who volunteers in the community and offers a helping hand for those in need.

Vallier also is a supporter of numerous causes and a friend to many in Auburn – her community for more than 50 years. She continues her work today.

She continues to drive friends and seniors around to appointments. She is part of Bible studies and joins her “Golden Girls” for potlucks, parties and morning swims at the YMCA.

“I’m not afraid to try new ideas, try new things in life,” Vallier said. “I just try to be a friend to anybody I meet.”