Soto Family Southside

José and Guadalupe Soto settled in Chandler after leaving Sonora, Mexico in 1919. They were the second generation of Soto family members to come to America for an opportunity to work as farm laborers. Guadalupe’s father, Pedro (“Pete”) Montano was a local blacksmith and José worked for the Dobson family farm. The Sotos had three children: Eulogio “Lefty,” Hector (who died at the age of one) and Estella. Lefty, born in November of 1924, was born at the Dobson Farm on Warner and Dobson roads. Guadalupe passed away in 1930, and Lefty’s grandmother, Maria Luisa Bojorquez de Montano, took care of the children. Pedro built a home on Hidalgo Street, where the Soto family lived for eighty years. The home had three rooms, and Pedro built a shed for four more beds in the back. There was no running water, and the Sotos had a two-seat outhouse. Lefty attended the Winn School on Saragosa Street before moving on to Cleveland School. As a teenager, he worked at the George Y. Wah grocery store and the Bashas’ on Boston Street before being drafted into the Army in 1943. He served as an Army Scout in New Guinea, Moritai, and the Philippines, before being deployed to Japan. He served in Kyoto, Japan for two and a half years where he was promoted to Staff Sergeant. Lefty married his high school sweetheart, Josephine Noriega, in 1949. Josephine was born in Phoenix in 1929, and moved to Chandler at the age of six. The Sotos had four children, Dolores, Mary Helen, Edward and Cecilia. To support his family, Lefty worked for the United State Postal Service and was the first Hispanic mail carrier in Chandler. He delivered mail by bicycle from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m., at which time he went to his job as a bookkeeper at Stuarts Home Furnishing store. Lefty was in the National Guard. Josephine worked for Firestone and volunteered at the American Legion, signing men up for the draft. After having her children, she didn’t work until her youngest daughter started high school; Josephine worked in the offi ce at Seton High School for nine years. Josephine has since passed away. The family no longer lives in the neighborhood.