“I was very patriotic, and I wanted to do something to help with the war effort.”
Anne Wise Isgar
Twenty-one year old Anne Wise heard that the military was looking for women to help build military aircraft while she was visiting Los Angeles in 1941. She applied and was one of the few accepted to work at Northrup Aircraft building the P-61 Black Widow Armed Night Fighter. These planes were some of the first to use radar and were sent overseas. They provided nighttime defense against German bombs over England.
Anne was born in March, 1920 in Ridgway and grew up in Animas City. She attended the Animas City School, now the Animas Museum. After the war, she returned to Durango and married Art Isgar. They raised five children on a busy ranch west of town near Breen. Anne was involved in many community organizations, almost until her death just before her 100th birthday. In lieu of flowers, Anne asked that people remember what she called the “cornerstone of Animas City”, the Animas Museum.
Anne Wise Isgar exemplified the “we can do it” attitude of Rose the Riveter.
Northrup P-61A-1-NO Black Widow Serial #42-5507, image in the Public Domain.