05/01/2026
The Museum will close early today in observance of Newton’s own Rosie the Riveter.
Staff from the Harvey County Historical Museum will be celebrating the life of Connie Palacioz.
Connie was 101 years old and became a household name with her work on Doc, the B-29 in Wichita, Ks.
At the young age of 17, she became one of the many young women who joined the workforce during WWII. After the war, she was laid off from Boeing, because of local veterans coming home. While being a mother, she worked as a hairdresser, something that kept her busy for nearly 50 years.
In 2000, Connie was able to get back to her early calling. Doc was discovered in the Mojave desert, in California, where he laid for 42 years before he was rescued and trucked to Wichita. Her passion for educating later generations about Doc and the people who worked to build the B-29s in Wichita drove her to volunteer alongside the airplane for decades.
