Over a span of 95 years, Victoria Peluso has experienced what most people have only read in history books. Her lifetime has stretched from the roaring 20s through the depths of the Great Depression and World War II. Peluso has seen decades of political, scientific and technological changes. Peluso was born June 19, 1919, in Akron, Ohio, to Italian immigrants Antonio and Sara Giamo Ficarra. One of eight children, Peluso and her siblings learned how to speak English while they were in grade school. Before she was born, her father began working as an elevator repairman for B.F. Goodrich. When she was12 years old, Pelusoís father was almost killed after a previous worker forgot to insert the safety valve on the steam-operated elevator. When her father turned the valve, it opened up and more than 5,000 pounds of hot steam hit him; covering 75 percent of his body with third-degree burns. He eventually recovered and continued to work at the plant for more than 31 years.The Peluso family enjoyed living in the Midwest. General Tire, Goodrich, Firestone and Goodyear were all headquartered in Akron. Most produced rubber, but Goodyear also manufactured airships, blimps, dirigibles and zeppelins. At age 15, Peluso saw the Hindenburg flying over her familyís house. ìThe flight pattern was right over our house,î she said. ìI remember looking up and seeing this gigantic, awesome thing going over our house.îAfter Peluso graduated from high school in 1937, she worked at a Goodyear aircraft plant in Akron until she met her husband, James, in 1941; as he was setting up fireworks at a show in Hudson, Ohio. ìI was watching him because I was so intrigued by how he could operate all those things in the air,î she said. After the show was over, James drove Peluso home and asked her for a ìdanceî date.The couple enjoyed dancing the jitterbug together. ìWhen we got on the floor to dance, people stopped to watch,î she said. ìWe were good dancers.î Because Pelusoís father did not approve of the relationship, the couple eloped and married at the courthouse in Akron, Ohio. A bit unprepared when the judge asked if they had rings, they went across the street to a store and bought a ring for 10 cents. ìI should have kept that ring,î she said.Just 10 days after they were married, James was drafted and then stationed in San Diego. Peluso remembered the day Pearl Harbor was bombed. ìIt was horrible ó horrible! The pictures we saw (in the newspaper) were disgusting,î she said. ìThey declared war, and they took my husband. I was very angry.î Peluso stayed in Akron for a couple more years before joining her husband in San Diego in 1943.While James served in the U.S. Army, Peluso took a job with Consolidated Aircraft in San Diego, where she worked as a riveter putting together B-24 Liberators. ìI had to buy my own tools into the hundreds of dollars,î she said. ìThe government was broke.î Peluso was heartbroken when she found that someone had stolen her tools. ìI went to pick up my tool box and it was empty,î she said. ìI cried like a baby, and some of the tools I hadnít even paid for; I was waiting for my paycheck.îPeluso remembers how loud it was inside the warehouse, where planes were lined up longer than a city block. ìThere was line upon line of B-24s ready to take off to the war zone,î she said. ìThe doors (to the warehouse) were wide open night and day.î Peluso continued to rivet even after she became pregnant, but soon realized how dangerous her work was after an on-the-job accident. Peluso was riveting on top of the B-24 bomber wing while one of her co-workers was welding inside the cockpit of the plane. ìAll of a sudden, someone yelled, ëFIRE! JUMP!íî she said. ìI donít remember anything after that. All I know is that I jumped from the wing to the floor.î A spark from the torch had ignited the hydraulic fluid running down the side of the plane. The fire was extinguished, and Peluso escaped injury.In 1944, the Pelusos welcomed their first daughter, Nancy. The following year, the war ended, and the Army honorably discharged James. In 1946, Peluso gave birth to the coupleís first son, James. Two years later, son Joseph arrived. From 1950 to 1958, the couple added four more children ñ Salvatore, Mary Ann, John and Carmela. Peluso kept busy caring for seven children, while James built up his own fireworks business, San Diego Fireworks Display Co.He contracted to put on firework shows for big organizations such as Disneyland, SeaWorld, Legoland, as well as various sporting events for the San Diego State University Aztecs, the San Diego Chargers and the San Diego Padres. ìHe went to different places in California,î she said. ìWord got around that we had a flourishing business.î Soon James was asked to put on private shows at area country clubs, and the business eventually added shows for several Las Vegas casinos. For more than 30 years, the Peluso family made a living lighting up the skies.In 1980, tragedy hit the Peluso family when the senior James was killed in a car accident, after being hit head-on by a drunk driver. More than 300 people attended his funeral, and local newspapers highlighted Jamesí life. Peluso had never participated in setting up the fireworks during her husbandís shows; but, on the day of his funeral, she lit a string of three skyrockets that ignited over his burial site.In 1982, the Peluso family sold their business to Pyro Spectaculars ñ one of the four largest firework display companies in the world. Pelusoís son John and her two grandsons continue to work for them, carrying on the family tradition. They have participated in firework displays for various Super Bowls and the famous ball drop in Times Square on New Yearís Eve.In 1999, Pelusoís daughter Mary Ann moved to Falcon, Colorado, and asked her mother to join her so she could care for her. ìI love living in Colorado,î Peluso said. ìThe people are so nice everywhere I go.î In 2013, Mary Ann discovered that a tour of WWII airplanes would be coming through Colorado Springs, and she surprised her mother with tickets to the event. Peluso wept when she saw one of only two remaining B-24 Liberators still in operation. After walking inside the belly of the plane, she couldnít help but think of it as ìone of her babies.î Organizers of the event were excited to meet a real life ìRosie the Riveterî (a term that references women who worked in factories during WW II ó many of them producing war supplies). Peluso said she had a front-row seat and they gave her a T-shirt to commemorate the event. ìThey treated me like a queen,î she said.Today, Peluso enjoys living a quiet life, spending her days in prayer and reading biographies, history books and her Bible. ìI donít know how many years I have left, but here I am and thatís what makes me happy.î She has 27 grandchildren, 13 great grandchildren and three great, great grandchildren.
