Remembering Domingo Concepción García

On April 21, 2025, barely a year ago, one of ours departed.

I was born and lived the first years of my life a few meters from your house, which as a child I visited on several occasions. I remember how in its patio and around the edge of the cistern, there was a great hustle and bustle of neighbors coming in and out of the house due to the activity carried out by your mother as the town's seamstress and tailor. 

Now, with the passage of time, recalling the shared moments, we see: the afternoons of those Saturdays we spent at the San Bartolomé society watching you play chapolín, as you had a great skill for that game that we all always admired. You once commented on the vicissitudes of your participation in a regional event. We shared, on more than one occasion, the walks back under starry nights from the society, after the dance was over, to our respective homes on the morro.

You went to study at the Instituto del Puerto and years later to the University of La Laguna, where you pursued a degree in Biology to finally, after some journeys through the islands, return to Lanzarote and give free rein to your passion for the study of the avifauna of both the island and the Chinijo Archipelago.

Many will remember you as a great connoisseur and disseminator of the flora and fauna of the Canary Islands. Your contact with nature made you aware of the need - perhaps following a mandate dictated by the memory of our ancestors - to become an activist in defense of this land and its people against the development of uncontrolled urbanism; thus we could see you as President of El Gincho leading demonstrations, warning of the evils that loomed over the island if growth was not limited. This prominence condemned you to ostracism because you were censored and the doors were closed to the projects you presented to some entities. 

Looking back, I see your complaints about the arbitrary and unfair decisions that denied you everything. I know you suffered that tremendous emptiness in silence many times. Nevertheless, I want to keep the best: the good times shared, your pleasant conversation, the sparkle in your eyes when you spoke of the birds you had spotted, your wise advice on when to dig and how to plant sweet potato slips in the soil, not forgetting your strict administration when distributing the seeds of the black apple tomato that you guarded jealously. We also have your books, scientific publications, and articles published and unpublished.

Today you can rest from the work done for years as a faithful guardian of seeds without receiving any reward for it, as there are young people who are taking over your work of custodianship of our plant varieties. 

In 2017, the Cabildo de Lanzarote awarded you, at the proposal of the Tías Foro por la Identidad Cultural Association, the well-deserved “Biosphere Reference” award. At the award ceremony, which took place at Castillo San José, your firm commitment to the sustainability and defense of the natural heritage of the Canary Islands, as well as your love for this land, was evident. Emotive words about your origins were also heard, and the grace with which you recounted childhood anecdotes was shared. 

That night, some justice was done for one of the good people who have walked these islands.

Domingo, son of Lorenzo and Inocencia, you should know that you will remain forever in our collective memory for the legacy you have left to this land and its people. Furthermore, we will always have your unique smile, which I can affirm is exactly like your father's.

Signed by a neighbor from the "Morro" of San Bartolomé