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Victor and Delfina (Lopez) Arvizu came to Chandler from Nogales, Mexico. Looking for a better life, they settled at Andersen Ranch. Delfina worked for the Andersen family as a housekeeper. Victor worked in the cotton and alfalfa fields there. In 1919, Carmen (Arvizu) Ayala was born. She was raised on the ranch near Dobson and Price Roads with her five siblings.
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In the 1930s, the Arvizu children wore cotton cloth flour sacks that their mother fashioned into outfits. Carmen still recalls the name of the flour company emblazoned on the sacks. She said many Mexican children wore similar clothing at the time.
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The Cleveland School for Spanish-speaking children was located in downtown Chandler. Carmen walked 10 miles a day round trip to get there. She left school after the fourth grade because it was too far a distance to walk. The only transportation they had back then was a horse driven wagon that her father would take to town. He drove the wagon to a designated lot at Arizona Avenue and Frye Road near Serrano’s Mexican Food Restaurant. The horses were given water while their owners traded and sold produce.
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Biography researched and authored by Mary Polanco-Gerlach and Diane Brown
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