Lefty Soto, 1952

Owned by Chandler Museum
Apr 09, 2021
2 min read

First Latino mail carrier in Chandler, Lefty Soto, with his daughter in the mailbag

Eulogio “Lefty” Soto was born in 1924 on the Dobson Ranch, where his father was an agricultural laborer. His mother passed away when he was only five. His father, unable to care for Lefty and his younger sister, sent them to live with their grandparents. Lefty grew up on Hidalgo Street, seeing his father once or twice a month, and attending the Winn School in the Southside Neighborhood.

At the conclusion of his sophomore year at Chandler High School, Lefty enlisted in the Army on July 11, 1943. He saw action at Morotai and Luzon, and earned a Bronze Star. On August 14, 1945, when Japan surrendered, Lefty was in the Philippines preparing for an amphibious assault on the Japanese home islands. Lefty and the soldiers in his division celebrated the end of the war with “More beer than you can….I don’t know what!”

Lefty stayed in Kyoto, Japan with the Army of Occupation until the end of January 1946. Less than three weeks after being discharged, Lefty was back in a classroom in Chandler High, finishing his high school degree.

Upon graduation, he worked as a bookkeeper at the Chandler Arizonan. One day, Father Patterson, the pastor at the local Catholic Church, inquired at the bank as to why there weren’t any Latino people employed there. The response was that no one had ever applied. Father Patterson convinced the Arizonan’s editor to allow Lefty to apply for a job at the bank, and Lefty was hired as the bank’s first Latino employee. 

After two years, he and his friend, Raul Navarrete, along with three others, took the civil service exam for a job with the Post Office. Lefty and Raul were the only two to pass. Raul, who was later elected Mayor of Chandler, said “I already have a good job at the [Williams Air Force] Base. Why don’t you take the job?” Lefty did, and became Chandler’s first Latino mail carrier. 

Lefty was a star pitcher on the softball field playing for the St. Mary’s Catholic Church softball team and the semi-professional Haybalers. Lefty earned his nickname from his dominant throwing arm, which was virtually unhittable most nights.