Summary:
Ethel Koch worked at Curtiss-Wright during World War II. Born in Grayson County, she moved to Louisville at nineteen to find work. She initially worked at Axton-Fisher and then at a defense plant bag factory in Indiana. After a tornado killed her father and brother, she returned home to help her family before moving back to Louisville to work at Curtiss-Wright. She worked as a drill press operator, in tubing, and as a clerk in a time study. After the war, the plant closed and she worked at the American Tobacco Company, where she met her husband. They had two children and she chose not to return to work. She believes the number of women working during World War II influenced women working today.
