LUCY CHAVEZ DIES AT 88.

Byline: Angie Valencia Staff Writer

SIMI VALLEY - Lucy Ferrer Chavez took pride in capturing history through the art of storytelling - stories that her kin will proudly pass on to future generations.

A member of Simi Valley's founding Mexican families with roots in the city since the early 1900s, Chavez fought for recognition beyond farmworker stereotypes of her people and presented a culture that contributed as business owners, landowners and artists.

Friends and family said her stories never ran dry. She made it her mission to speak of a history passed over - a version that at the time was omitted from popular history books.

Up until the day of her death, Chavez honored her Mexican-American heritage. She died Tuesday of natural causes. She was 88.

``There are two ways to describe her,'' said her son, Everett ``Joe'' Delano Chavez. ``Fierce and independent.''

Her fighting spirit made her an advocate for equal rights, he said. In the 60s, she pushed to have misconceptions corrected.

``She argued,'' Delano Chavez said. ``She wrote articles to local papers. She approached the Historical Society and urged them to present the Mexican side and not just the Anglo side.''

And she won the battle.

``She was a real booster for her own heritage and making sure everyone remembered and noticed the past,'' said city historian Pat Havens. ``She didn't feel they were very included with earlier books. She wanted to be sure they were more noticed.''

In a chapter of the Simi Valley Historical Society's book ``Simi Valley - A Journey Through Time,'' Lucy Chavez and her son team up as they reminisce about the town when there was nothing more than ``jackrabbits and coyotes.'' And they continue with tales of the struggles, triumphs and contributions in a family history of three generations in a chapter titled ``The Simi Valley I Remember - An Anthology of Memories.''

Chavez's father, Atilano Ferrer, was a former farmworker who became a labor contractor and was pivotal in the town's development. Once here, the uneducated Mexican man accumulated enough wealth to afford to buy a home, land and cars.

The chapter begins with the story of Evaristo Chavez, who escaped Mexico following the tumultuous years of the revolution of 1910. Lucy Ferrer met him at a dance in Camarillo thanks to her brothers Beto and Chato in the early 1930s.

``Her two brothers would go to dances in Camarillo,'' said Delano Chavez. ``Mother always wanted to go, but they refused to take her.

``One time, they agreed to take her on one condition: That she wouldn't turn down any man that asked her to dance.''

Lucy agreed and danced with the man she would one year later marry - a man that was neither ``ugly, old or fat.''

After they married, Evaristo Chavez turned to work on ranches before taking a job with the Simi Valley Unified School District. He died in 1988.

In her earlier years, Lucy Chavez packed fruit in a packing house where Havens and her mother also worked. She went on to get a job as a nurse's aide.

In 1930, she joined the city's first Latina softball team, which played teams all over Ventura County and the San Fernando Valley. She played catcher.

With family and preserving history ranking high on her list, Lucy Chavez was instrumental in getting a portion of the city's public cemetery cleaned up in the 1970s.

Delano Chavez said once a new section was added to the existing pioneer section, where many of their family members were buried, the older section was neglected.

``She went before the board and demanded that they fix and improve it,'' he said. ``After arguing for many months, they agreed.''

Lucy's youngest sister, Rosemarie Sotelo of Santa Barbara, 79, said the family was always proud of Lucy because she always stood up for her rights.

A service is scheduled at 10 a.m. Wednesday at St. Peter Claver Catholic Church.

Angie Valencia, [phone]

angie.valencia(at)dailynews.com

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Lucy Ferrer Chavez was a member of Simi Valley's founding Mexican families.