Fernando Burruel came from another time, another place.
He was born in South Tucson but spent much of his youth shuttling back and forth between the familyβs Sahuarita ranch and the family home on West 29th Street next door to the Valencia Market. That was the family home and hub for a flock of cousins, and tΓos and tΓas, and friends. His family was poor and hard-working.
He left school after the sixth grade to go to work. He worked on the ranch. He peddled tamales in town. He picked cotton and lettuce. Eventually he would lay bricks and for more than 30 years he worked as a butcher at Fryβs.
Burruel loved to sing and learned to play the guitar. He played with a mariachi group and with two buddies β the trio serenaded their mothers and other women on Motherβs Day. He married, and he and his wife, Cecilia Leon Burruel from Barrio Hollywood, raised two daughters.
βNando,β as he was known, represented the lives and experiences of many Southern Arizona families whose buried roots stretch across the ranchos and barrios. Nando died Nov. 30 at the age of 80 and his family will celebrate his life Tuesday at 11 a.m. at St. Pius X Catholic Church.
Thursday, at the family home, I learned about Burruelβs life, his family, and his way of life. At the small kitchen table, in the house that Burruelβs family built around 75 years ago, I sat with his two daughters, Elvira Leon Burruel and Isabel Burruel Smutzer, and his sister, Rosario Burruel Mendibles, who lives in the West 29th Street house, which remains the hub of family celebrations and gatherings.
Burruel, known as βNando,β was a man βwho knew the importance of family, tradition and hard work and passed it on to his family.β
Memorias and tears flowed over coffee and pan dulce.
βFor my dad it was family and music,β said Smutzer, who works in the County Attorneyβs Office as the staff supervisor and assistant to County Attorney Barbara LaWall.
For Elvira, a senior master sergeant in the Air National Guard 162nd Wing, her dad reflected simpler and more honorable mores. βIt was a time when a handshake was a handshake.β
And for Mendibles, tΓa Chayo to her nieces and nephews, her brother was a happy, generous, friendly, supportive, entertaining and lovable man but most of all, βhe was a great brother.β He confided everything to his younger sister βlike he was in confessionβ and he loved nothing more than to bring something sweet to the house.
To the family, Burruel was a simple man from South Tucson who βknew the importance of family, tradition and hard work and passed it on to his family.β
Fernando Burruel, center at his familyβs Sahuarita ranch El Bajio, grew up in South Tucson. He died on Nov. 30 at age 80.
Burruel was a genial and happy man. However, his daughters knew that their father faced tough struggles growing up in post-Great Depression Southern Arizona leading up to and through World War II.
He was born to Antonia Gallego Bernal and Manuel Burruel, her second husband, who was from Ures, Sonora. His mother was part of the large Gallego clan who homesteaded the Sahuarita-area rancho, El Bajio. When Burruel was 3 months old, his father Manuel died. His uncle Casimiro βTΓo Miloβ Gallego became his father figure on the ranch.
While on the ranch, Burruel tended to the livestock, chickens, picked cotton and attended the old Sahuarita school. He shuttled back and forth between the ranch and South Tucson so he could attend Ochoa and Carrillo schools.
Along the way the young Burruel learned to play the guitar and memorized the old songs that the family sang or heard during Jacinto Orozcoβs radio program, βLa Hora Mexicana,β on KVOA. Burruel took to the guitar and songs. Years later he and his childhood besties, Conrad Mendoza and Oscar Islas, became popular for their Motherβs Day serenades. Burruel also became part of Mariachi Cuervo as a young man.
Fernando Burruel, front row kneeling on the right, with Mariachi Cuervo. Burruel, who grew up in South Tucson, learned to play the guitar and memorized the old songs that the family sang or heard on a local radio program.
βHe was the life of the party,β said his daughters.
And it was at a wedding party where he met his future wife. Of course it was at the West 29th Street house during a family wedding. After their father met their mother, he was smitten, said Burruelβs daughters.
βHe never let go,β they said. And he meant it. Burruel, who had no car, would walk from his South Tucson home to the west side, or hitch a ride, to see Cecilia. They married in September 1962 at St. Mary Margaret Church on North Grande Avenue, and began their lives and family.
Undate photo of Fernando Burruel on his familyβs Sahuarita ranch, El Bajio. Burruel grew up in South Tucson. He died on Nov. 30 at age 80.
It was a humble and proud life for the young couple who remained married for 55 years. For a short time he lay bricks and worked on the Home Federal Savings Building, on North Stone Avenue downtown, now known as the Legal Services Building where his daughter Isabel works.
He worked as a butcher and she cleaned homes. They supported their daughters and instilled in them the love for family, and the values of respect, friendship and hard work. And Burruel always reminded his family to keep their values close as he did.
Nando, at the end, played his guitar up to his last morning when he was taken to the hospital.
