Vecchio was an Italian immigrant and runaway from Opa-locka, Florida, where she attended Westview Junior High School.
After the shootings, she bartered her story  to a local reporter in exchange for a bus ticket to California.
She was found by police before boarding the bus and sent back to her family, who reportedly later sued T-shirt companies for 40 percent of the profits from sales of apparel featuring Filo's photograph.
Following publication of the photograph through the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review satellite paper Valley Daily News and its subsequent pickup internationally, Florida governor Claude Kirk labelled Vecchio a dissident communist.

After Vecchio married Joe Gillum in 1979, the couple moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where Vecchio became a clerk at a coffee shop.
She later studied massage therapy and is employed as a respiratory therapist.

In 1995, Vecchio and John Filo met for the first time, when both were scheduled to appear at an Emerson College conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the shootings.
She also appeared at Kent State University in May of the same year for the 25th annual commemoration.
She returned to Kent State University again for the 36th commemoration in May 2006 and for the 37th commemoration in May 2007.

Vecchio has been portrayed in several stage performances depicting the Kent State shootings.
The character Vekeero in Halim El-Dabh's 1971 Opera Flies is based on Vecchio.
Her role was played by Kelley Lepsik in the 2000 performance of Kent State: A Requiem.
Janet Ruth Heller published a poem  entitled "For Mary Vecchio, August, 1973," which portrays Vecchio as a modern Mary praying for the fallen Kent State students.

Before being published, the photograph was retouched to remove the distracting background fencepost that appeared over Vecchio's head in the original image.
The unretouched original was stored in the archives of Life magazine.
Vecchio was an Italian immigrant and runaway from Opa-locka, Florida, where she attended Westview Junior High School. After the shootings, she bartered her story  to a local reporter in exchange for a bus ticket to California. She was found by police before boarding the bus and sent back to her family, who reportedly later sued T-shirt companies for 40 percent of the profits from sales of apparel featuring Filo's photograph. Following publication of the photograph through the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review satellite paper Valley Daily News and its subsequent pickup internationally, Florida governor Claude Kirk labelled Vecchio a dissident communist.
After Vecchio married Joe Gillum in 1979, the couple moved to Las Vegas, Nevada, where Vecchio became a clerk at a coffee shop. She later studied massage therapy and is employed as a respiratory therapist.
In 1995, Vecchio and John Filo met for the first time, when both were scheduled to appear at an Emerson College conference commemorating the 25th anniversary of the shootings. She also appeared at Kent State University in May of the same year for the 25th annual commemoration. She returned to Kent State University again for the 36th commemoration in May 2006 and for the 37th commemoration in May 2007.
Vecchio has been portrayed in several stage performances depicting the Kent State shootings. The character Vekeero in Halim El-Dabh's 1971 Opera Flies is based on Vecchio. Her role was played by Kelley Lepsik in the 2000 performance of Kent State: A Requiem. Janet Ruth Heller published a poem  entitled "For Mary Vecchio, August, 1973," which portrays Vecchio as a modern Mary praying for the fallen Kent State students.
Before being published, the photograph was retouched to remove the distracting background fencepost that appeared over Vecchio's head in the original image. The unretouched original was stored in the archives of Life magazine.
Mary Ann Vecchio