Governor Raul Castro Remembered

Thanks to 2014 Historymaker Program Chair Mary Parker for her memories of Governor Raul Castro.

Governor Raul Castro in his home
with photo of himself and other 
 Historymakers 2014 honorees

2014 Historymaker, Raúl Héctor Castro, died April 10, 2015 at the age of 98. He was born in Sonora, Mexico in 1916 and immigrated to the US at the age of 10. He was Arizona’s first and only Hispanic Governor and served three U.S. presidents as Ambassador to El Salvador, Bolivia and Argentina.
   When Jeannine Moyle, Zona Lorig & I visited him in January of 2013, to invite him to be a Historymaker, the Governor regaled us with many stories. One of his tales was about his meeting his wife, Patricia. In 1954 Raúl was then a judge for Pima County Superior Court and around that time he met Patricia Steiner, who had moved to Tucson from Milwaukee. When they met, he said that she thought he was a Mariachi player.  They had a long courtship, because Raúl was afraid of his mother’s disapproval; she didn’t want him to marry an American girl because she thought they smoked, drank, and weren’t good mothers. When he did introduce them, they hit it off and his mother then always took Patricia’s side. They finally married in 1959.
   Another of his stories is retold in the latest issue (May) of the League’s newsletter.
   Jeannine, Zona, and I enjoyed our short time talking to him and hope enough of you were able to talk to him at the Historymakers Gala. He always remembered his roots, was very humble, and not bitter or angry about the prejudice he had experienced in his life.