Connie Palacioz, Wichita’s own Rosie the Riveter, remembered as ‘a true legend’

Rosie may have been the name chosen to honor all the female riveters of World War II, but there was no more popular actual riveter than Connie the Riveter — in Wichita and beyond.

Connie Palacioz was “a true legend,” said Josh Wells, executive director of B-29 Doc. “Her life story is a legacy.”

Palacioz, 101, died early Sunday following a brief illness.

The tiny — at about 4’6” you could almost put her in your pocket — Palacioz may have been known for being diminutive and humble, but she also was mighty and fiery in many ways.

Wells said the way she and other women stepped up “to go to work in the factories and go to work in the arsenal of democracy is inspiring.”

In 1943, Palacioz was a recent high school graduate working in a Newton laundry facility when she decided to help the war effort.

“I heard on the radio and the paper that … they needed some help at Boeing,” she told The Eagle in a 2020 interview.

“I said I didn’t know what I could do. … They said, ‘Well, we have a school, and you can go there, and when you get ready, we’ll send you to the plant.’ . . . The pay was better than laundry, the 25 cents.”

Palacioz said she liked the job and that she was helping the country.

“On the radio, there used to always be the Tokyo Rose. We could hear on the radio … she was trying to say (awful) kinds of things … so our boys, their morale would break. … When I would hear her, I would just say, ‘We’re gonna show you.’ … I knew I was doing something that was going to help us win the war.”

Palacioz was disappointed that she was laid off when men returned from war and resumed their factory jobs. She said she missed the work at first, but she ended up being a hairdresser for almost 50 years and left riveting behind.

“I never thought I would come back.”

A people pleaser

After being born in Peabody to Mexican immigrants, Connie Cuellar grew up in Newton in poverty during an era when children were obedient, said her daughter, Tish Nielsen.

“She just did everything to please people.”

However, after having a domineering mother and husband, Palacioz started being more forthright with her own wants and opinions in her later years.

“She was very determined,” Nielsen said. “Sometimes I would tell her later in life I thought she was stubborn.”

Nielsen said her mother, who had four children and a foster child, would say she never had a headache until her final years, “But I had a lot of heartaches.”

That included divorce and discrimination.

“But she didn’t dwell on that,” Nielsen said. “She liked to have a good time as well.”

Former Spirit AeroSystems CEO Jeff Turner said Palacioz “was so fun.”

At each of her birthday parties in later years, Palacioz always wanted to dance with him first.

After they’d been dancing a bit at her 100th party last year, Palacioz said, “Now, Jeff, if you’re tired, you can go sit down,” he remembered.

“I said, ‘Well, Connie, are you tired? Would you like to sit down?’ ”

She said absolutely not, she was only thinking of him.

“I’m doing fine, Connie, thank you,” he replied.

Turner’s wife, Rhonda, noted how Nielsen always was protective of her mother.

“Connie didn’t need to be protected. She was fine being herself and doing what she wanted to do.”

After one birthday party, Nielsen tucked her mother into her hotel room, but after she left, Palacioz re-emerged to join her great-nieces and great-nephews at the hotel bar.

She was known for her love of a Bud Light a day, at least well into her 90s.

‘It was a mess’

About a dozen years ago, Palacioz read in The Eagle that volunteers were needed to help restore Doc, a vintage B-29 bomber that was built by Boeing Wichita — with original rivets likely done in part by Palacioz because she riveted the nose of every B-29 that went down the line from when she started in 1943 to the end of the war in 1945.

Doc was built in late 1944. In 2013, Palacioz decided to help again, this time with the rebuilding effort. That’s how Wells got to know her.

He said “it took an entire nation to come together and build these machines.”

“That’s the greatest generation. That’s what they stood for.”

Palacioz apparently always had quite the backbone. In the 2020 interview, she told how during the war, her boss came to her with a situation.

“We have a young lady, but nobody wants to work with her,” Palacioz quoted him.

“And I said, ‘Why?’ And he said, ‘Well, she’s Black.’ … I said to him, ‘Well, I don’t mind working … with her because I’m also a minority. I’m Mexican.’ … We became really a good team. … She was so good that all her rivets were the same. A lot of (coworkers) wanted her … and I said, ‘No.’ We just wouldn’t part. We just stayed together.”

Palacioz said she loved working on Doc the second time around, though she said it was easier to build the plane than to rebuild it.

“It was a mess, but we got it all done,” she said in 2017.

“When they first brought the plane … it came in parts. All I did was pick up pieces of the plane. … There was about 350 switches, and I cleaned all the switches that are in that plane. I cleaned and polished them. I spent about four months doing that. … They tried to put (in) as many as they could that were workable. That’s why I have so much interest in that plane. … I saw it come from the desert looking like nothing, and now look at how pretty that is.”

Visitors to Doc were often just as eager or even more interested in seeing Connie.

“We go across the country with Doc, and everybody asks, ‘Is Connie here?’ ” Wells said. “She has been out on tour with us, and she’s a rock star when we go to places. People all over the nation respect her and know her.”

When Turner learned an original Rosie would be joining the Doc restoration crew, “I thought that was way cool.”

Even a broken wrist didn’t keep her from her work.

He said there’s a story, “I don’t know if it’s true or apocryphal,” that Palacioz baked a pie for a family member but fell as she was carrying it.

“First thing she said was, ‘I didn’t drop the pie,’ ” he said.

Then, the story goes that people who went to see her at the rehab center where she was doing physical therapy heard her say, “I’m telling you if you bring me some parts, I can work on them up here.”

‘A big honor’

Through the years, Palacioz remarked that she was blessed with good health, which allowed her to volunteer for Doc and also at her church and a school.

Only last month, she attended a Dress Like Rosie Day at GAF, a roofing and waterproofing manufacturer, in her hometown of Newton. Workers honored her, and the company made a donation to Doc.

“At GAF, we know firsthand what goes into manufacturing and the hard work, dedication, strength, and resilience that is necessary to do this job,” said plant manager Andrew Shoults in an e-mailed statement in March.

“We are thrilled to celebrate the remarkable legacy of people like Connie, who served our country and are the embodiment of the spirit that makes Kansas so great.”

In 2022, Palacioz was named the inaugural member of the Women in Aviation - Kansas Women’s Hall of Fame.

At the grand opening of the hall of fame exhibit at the Doc hangar, Palacioz said, “I know this exhibit will serve as a lasting monument to those who joined me in Wichita and beyond to answer the call to protect the freedom and country we so loved.”

Just as Palacioz put a real face to the ideal of Rosie the Riveter, she wasn’t focused on her place in history but on the importance of all who served.

“It’ll remain Doc’s mission as long as the Lord’s willing for us to continue to share her legacy and the legacy of those men and women who designed, built and flew those machines,” Wells said.

He probably can be forgiven if he has an extra special place in his heart for Palacioz.

“I had the pleasure of seeing her yesterday. It was nice just to put my arm around her,” Wells said.

“It’s a big honor to have known her.”

This story was originally published April 19, 2026 at 4:04 PM.