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Frank “Tito” Valenzuela, Hollister’s first Latino mayor, died on Jan. 3. He was 91.
He served on the Hollister City Council from 1964 to 1968 and was mayor in 1964 and 1965, Hollister City Clerk Jennifer Woodworth said.
Born in San Juan Bautista to Alfred and Delia Valenzuela in 1932, Valenzuela died in San Jose.
Before serving on the council, he worked as a probation officer, a police officer and coached youth baseball in Hollister, his sister, Mary Louise Kennedy told BenitoLink.
At age 32, Valenzuela was California’s youngest mayor at the time, Kennedy said.
Kennedy described him as a protector, a ferocious reader, a political activist and sports enthusiast.
She said he had a deep passion for labor relations and unions, which led to his close relationship with labor leader Cesar Chavez, who co-founded the United Farm Workers (UFW).
Mickie Solorio Luna, a former Hollister council member and friend to Valenzuela, said he regularly picketed with the UFW, which made national and world news coverage but being on the news was never his goal.
“His goal was to stand firm for the people whose lives were being affected by the lack of attention, services and pay,” Luna said.
In 1973 Valenzuela was beaten and maced by Kern County Sheriff deputies during a protest at Giumarra Ranch, according to Walter P. Reuther Library archives. At the time he was an organizer with the American Federations of State, County and Municipal Employees, a union representing white collar and civil service workers.
Giumarra Ranch, a vineyard in Bakersfield, was also a site of UFW grape and lettuce boycotts.
Kennedy said Valenzuela’s determination to organize farm workers was inspiring.
“He was extremely involved in every facet of it,” she said. “He was so activated with this political part of unionization, especially that grape boycott.”
Valenzuela’s father, Alfred Valenzuela was a labor contractor, Kennedy said. Alfred managed contracts between fieldworkers and farmers, transported workers to the farms and provided workers with housing, she said.
Working with his father, Valenzuela saw the conditions fieldworkers experienced and wanted to see them improve, Kennedy said.
“That’s where his passion for farmworkers came from,” Kennedy said.
She said her fondest memory of her brother is when she was 15. By then, their parents had divorced.
“My brother was such a sweetheart,” she said. “I didn’t have a driver’s license and didn’t have a car, but one day he came home and brought this 1967 dodge so I could start taking lessons and have some transportation.
“That, to me, was amazing. He was always a protector of me,” she said. “We always had a wonderful little sister, older brother relationship.”
Luna called Valenzuela a mentor and “true advocate for the people.” She said he always encouraged young people to stay in school.
Valenzuela was able to attend the Walk-a-thon at the Avenida Cesar Chavez in Hollister in April 2023, Luna said.
“He mentioned that he was honored to be back home and that this would probably be his final march in the streets of Hollister and in memory of his friend Cesar Chavez,” she said.
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