The iconic Rosie the Riveter poster girl who became a symbol of feminist power for the millions of hard working women who worked on the home front during World War II has died. Mary Doyle Keefe, the telephone operator who inspired millions, passed away on Tuesday after a brief illness, her family said. Mary became the poster girl for American women when she shot to fame by posing for Norman Rockwell's iconic painting. Iconic: Mary Doyle Keefe, who posed for the Normal Rockwell Rosie the Riveter painting as a 19-year-old telephone operator, has died in Simsbury, Conneticut, aged 92 . Rosie the Riveter was on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on May 29, 1943, and became a symbol for feminism and economic power for American female workers during the war. Rockwell's famous painting shows the red-haired Rosie dressed in blue work overalls sat on the stars and stripes, with a sandwich in her left hand and her right arm on top of her lunch box with the name 'Rosie' on the front. In her no-nonsense pose, Rosie shows her brute strength with her left forearm muscle bulging. She has a rivet gun resting in her lap and her feet on a copy of Adolf Hitler's manifesto 'Mein Kampf.' Although Mrs Keefe was petite, Rockwell wanted 'Rosie' to show strength, so he used artistic licence to make her arms, hands and shoulders bigger. Riveting: The painting shows Rosie in blue work overalls sitting down in front of the American flag, with a sandwich in her left hand, a rivet gun on her lap and her feet resting on a copy of Adolf Hitler's 'Mein Kampf' Same but different: Rockwell's painting is not to be confused with the equally iconic 'We Can Do It!' poster, often also referred to as Rosie The Riveter . The artists admitted he modelled her body on Michelangelo's Isaiah, which is on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel. Mrs Keefe, who wasn't actually a riveter, was paid $10 (equivalent to $136 today) for two sessions she posed for Rockwell and his photographer, Gene Pelham. In a 2002 interview by then retired Mrs Keefe said the artist told her: 'You sit there and he takes all these pictures. 'They called me again to come back because he wanted me in a blue shirt and asked if I could wear penny loafers.' Twenty-four years after she posed, Rockwell sent her a letter calling her the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen and apologizing for the hefty body in the painting. 'I did have to make you into a sort of a giant,' he wrote. Mrs Keefe said people in Arlington didn't make too much of a fuss about her being in the Rosie painting, aside from teasing her a little about Rosie's big arms. 'People didn't make a big deal about things back then,' she said. Rockwell's painting is not to be confused with the equally iconic 'We Can Do It!', wartime poster, often also referred to as Rosie The Riveter. Inspirational: The 'We Can Do It' poster has been copied across the world to represent feminism and gender equality, including by singer Beyonce . After selling for $5million at a Sothenby's auction in 2002, the original Rosie the Riveter is now part of the permanent collection at the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. After the war, Mrs Keefe graduated from Temple University with a degree in dental hygiene, and was working as a dental hygienist in Bennington, Vermont, when she met her husband of 55 years, Robert Keefe, who died in 2003. They had four children and lived in Whitman, Massachusetts, and later in Nashua, New Hampshire. Mrs Keefe spent the last eight years in a retirement community in Simsbury, according to an obituary prepared by her family.
Mary Doyle Keefe died in Simsbury, Connecticut, aged 92 .
She was 'Rosie the Riveter' the wartime poster girl who inspired millions .
Artist made petite Mary's muscles bigger to make her symbol of strength .
Became a symbol for  feminism for the wartime women who stayed home .