Home » Travel » Nevada » Women of Nevada: Part II

Women of Nevada: Part II

© Kathleen M. Brune

During her life, Therese received honors and recognition for her work in the community and her achievements as a mother.

Anna Rechel

Anna was born in 1884 to German immigrants in New Jersey. She lost both her parents when she was in her early 20s and came to Nevada around 1915 with her 2nd husband, George Rechel, and her brother, Walter.

While raising her children on a ranch near Fernley, Anna befriended a miner who began to teach her about mining and prospecting. Soon, Anna began to read about mining operations and she and her husband moved their family to Rawhide, Nevada. While George worked for the state highway department there, Anna was prospecting. Without any of the conveniences of modern life—no electricity, plumbing, telephones, grocery stores—Anna became strong and worked hard looking for her "lucky strike".

Losing one son and her husband in 1937 and 1938, respectively, Anna became the sole means of support for her other son and her brother, Walter.

During WWII, a metal called tungsten became an important necessity for the war effort, and Anna worked under the ground using dynamite and picks and shovels. Later, during the 50s, uranium was in demand for miners, and Anna searched for that. When she was home in Rawhide, and not sleeping in the bed of her pickup truck out at her mines, Anna's home was the place her friends and neighbors socialized. Anna believed in women's rights, and made sure everyone new it. She believed in equal pay for women who worked, and that women should have the same choices in life and career that men did.

By the 1960s, the people of Rawhide had cleared out. Anna, being the last to leave, was finally forced to by her family because they were worried about her being all alone in what was becoming a dangerous area to live. She died shortly after, but knowing that she had faced her hardships with dignity and perseverance. Even though she never had her "lucky strike", she lived her life making her own decisions.

These women are just a few examples of those who met life and its ups and downs head on. While, surely, they were met with disasters and tragedies in their lives, they also enjoyed the laughter and love of their families and friends. They also each believed in the importance of community and family in addition to personal desires, and worked to achieve lives that were as balanced as they could make them. Each of these women is a role model, and each of them is remembered as a great woman of Nevada.