Aguilar Family
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Augusto and Rita Aguilar came to Chandler in 1921 and resided in a tent home owned by the Chandler Improvement Company on Washington Street and Arizona Avenue. The Aguilars left Cananea, Sonora, Mexico because Augusto’s health was suffering as a result of working in the mines. In 1922, the Aguilars purchased four lots on Hidalgo Street at $25 each and moved into a two-room house. Their daughter, Modesta (Aguilar) Muñoz, born in Sonora, Mexico in 1914, recalls that the home was small, and there were plenty of citrus trees on the property.The neighborhood “…was like a large cul-de-sac and all the neighbors were good, and when one was sick they looked after each other. People were helpful at that time. Real friendly people like a family.” The Aguilar children, Juan, Miguel, Tony. Refugio, Jose, Frank, Catalina, Maria Luisa, Carmen and Modesta, attended the Cleveland School and worked from an early age, picking cotton. Modesta later babysat for the Serrano Family.
Augusto and Rita raised hogs and grew their own food, which not only made for great tamales at Christmas time, but helped them get through the Great Depression. Sometimes, Modesta and her friends went to dances at El Mambo. After the war, one of the Aguilar sons, Juan married Francisca Aguilar. They raised their children on Hidalgo Street while Juan worked for the Boswell Gin. In 1938, Margaret (Aguilar) Lozano was born. The older siblings went to the Winn School on Saragosa Street. After St. Mary’s school opened, the Aguilar children attended Catholic school there and then graduated from Seton High School.
Margaret’s mother Francisca died at a young age, so Margaret took over a lot of the family’s cooking at the age of thirteen. “At that time, no one followed a recipe to cook: a pinch of this or a pinch of that, so it was hit or miss at times,” she says. Margaret still uses this method in her cooking today. Margaret provided recipes for rice and hot chocolate. She recommends serving the rice with enchiladas, chili con carne or chili rellenos. When accompanied with something sweet, “the hot chocolate recipe goes really well on those cold nights.”