Palacioz, Connie

Connie Palacioz was born January 16, 1925 in Peabody, Kansas, though she grew up mainly in nearby Newton.  Her parents came to the U.S. from Mexico, settling in Waco and then Wichita, and raising their family in the ranchito in Newton.  Connie and her siblings grew up against the backdrop of the Great Depression, experiencing anti-Mexican discrimination in her community, both at school and in recreational facilities like the local pool and skating rink.  Times were tough during the Great Depression, but the family managed to make ends meet through government vouchers and her father’s work for the WPA, part of FDR’s New Deal programs.  When the war came, one of Connie’s brothers went into the navy, and he served in the Pacific on the USS Wichita.  Connie decided she had to do her part too, and she took work at the Boeing plant in Wichita.  First, she learned how to rivet, and she ended up being paired with an African-American bucker named Gerry.  They worked together for the next two years, enduring long hours and taunts from the many men who worked in the factory.  They were happy when the war came to an end – and the women were laid off in short order.  Connie took work in a laundromat and later went to beauty school, and she also married during this time.  She became involved in the postwar civil rights movement too, challenging the racism that had impacted her early years. Connie did not speak about her wartime story until many years later, when she saw a story about a restored B-29 in the paper. With that she opened up to her family and she began volunteering at a local museum, sharing her own “Rosie the Riveter” story.  Crestwood students had the opportunity to zoom with Connie in February 2026.