The incredible story of Concepcion Picciotto, also called Connie or Conchita, and her 35-year-long peace protest outside the White House, has come to an end. Her death was announced on Tuesday in a statement by the Peace House, the group that organizes the protest installation at the White House. NBC News reported she was believed to be around 80 years old, and the cause of death was not yet known.
Picciotto was born in Spain and emigrated to the United States at the age of 18 to work in New York, according to a personal history Picciotto posted on Proposition One’s website of the disarmament campaign.
She worked at the Commercial Office in the Spanish Embassy, and then moved to Washington after her marriage ended, beginning her protest shortly thereafter. She became a well-known figure in the area, who devoted her life to advocating for peace and against nuclear proliferation.
The Peace House released a statement on Tuesday, saying Picciotto manned the anti-nuclear vigil the longest of any volunteers:
“She stayed there through thick and thin and was dedicated to a cause that sometimes seemed to be like an unhealthy relationship. With Connie’s death and as a handful of so many other volunteers we came to understand that the peace vigil was bigger than what some sometimes failed to see.”
The peace protest was a 24-hour vigil against nuclear proliferation, consisting of a makeshift camp next to the White House. The vigil site needed to be continuously attended by someone in order to remain in place. Picciotto had been a fixture at the encampment site in Lafayette Square since 1981, frequently speaking her cause to tourists.
The peace protest came to a brief end in 2013 after the site was left unattended overnight and the igloo-like tent was dismantled by authorities. The man who was supposed to stay at the camp overnight fell ill and left the site. Picciotto told NBC News in a 2013 interview about the brief shutdown of the vigil site, that she would never give up on her cause.
And she never did. Until the end, she served the cause she so strongly believed in. She will be remembered for it.
Featured image of Concepcion Picciotto at the Proposition One (Anti-Nuclear) Peace Vigil across from The House White at Lafayette Park in the 1600 block of Pennsylvania Avenue between Madison and Jefferson Place, NW, Washington DC on Saturday afternoon, 4 February 2012 by Elvert Barnes Protest Photography Permission to use under Wikimedia Commons. Featured images do not reflect the views of Liberal America.
