03/01/2025
https://trejostours.wixsite.com/tucson
In 2018, while I was still working at Hacienda Del Sol, I researched and wrote a story about longtime Tucsonans, Francis and Nona Chandler. Honestly, I found their story more interesting than that of many of the wealthy girls they worked for. The couple lived and worked at Hacienda Del Sol Ranch School for Girls from 1932-1937.
(I know it’s long…sorry, I’m not into “the whole brevity thing”)
Francis and Nona Chandler
Nona Chandler was born Nona Gee L. Fulcher in Austin TX in 1906 and was the oldest of 4 children. As a girl, she helped her mother earn money by cleaning and washing. They would boil water in a tub, clean and rinse in other tubs, and then hang the clothes out to dry. Her grandparents owned 25-30 acres south of Austin and as a child she remembered that it was always a special treat to visit them as they had cows, pigs, horses and a large fruit orchard that she and her siblings could play in. She recalled that her grandmother had a pump organ in her living room that she would play for the children when they would visit (if they sat quietly). In addition, her mother won a contest (when Nona was a girl) and received a Baldwin piano as a prize. Nona’s passion for music was sparked and she would go on to play for her church (as well as several other churches), the Young People’s Choir, at high school dances, as well as for the Senior Choir of her high school. While there were laws forbidding her going to the movies or hanging out in public with her while neighbors, Nona told an interviewer that she and her white friends would put on neighborhood performances with her white friends where they would play piano duets.
As Nona grew into her teens, she continued to help her mother and in the summertime, would pick cotton in small towns around Austin. She made $2.50 for every 100 pounds she picked (she once picked 200 pounds in one day). The money she and her siblings made on Saturdays was theirs to keep but their earnings from the rest of the work week was given over to their mother to help with school clothes and books. When fall came around, they would all return to school as education was very important to their family. Her parents had very high expectations for her and her siblings, and Nona recalled that they sacrificed significantly so that she could attend college.
And attend she did. After graduating from high school she went on to attend college for 4 years. During this time, Nona lived with her parents and continued working summers picking cotton to earn money. Despite struggling with trigonometry, Nona recalled that all of the teachers were very supportive and helpful and that her fellow students were all very eager for an education. In her Junior year, Nona began dating her future husband, Sir Francis Chandler. She had known Francis for a long time since he attended the same church as she and they had also both sung in the Young People’s Choir. While Francis was 6 years older than Nona, he had also attended college for 2 semesters (and played on the football team) at Samuel Huston, which later merged with Tillotson College to form today’s Huston-Tillotson University. In 1928, during her last year of college, Francis and Nona were married. Later that year, she graduated receiving her Bachelor’s Degree in Music.
After marriage, Francis worked for a while as a janitor at the University of Texas. In 1929, they had their first child, Francis Junior. In 1931 however, on a recommendation from a friend, they decided to move to Tucson, where he had heard that there was more opportunity for him and his family. Francis and Nona, together with their 2 year old child, took a bus from Austin to Tucson. The transition to the desert was not an especially easy one for Nona however. After living her entire life in Austin, she was used to the “green” and was taken aback by the heat and the dryness. At first, Nona remembered thinking that Tucson looked “dead” and that “even Christmas Day was hot” here. She later recalled that she thought to herself, “How do babies live? How do they get their breath?” Despite this, Tucson became their lifelong home.
By 1932, they had both gotten work at Hacienda Del Sol Ranch School for Girls as a janitor and as a maid. They lived on property and worked 6-7 days a week (Saturdays were a half-day and it appears that they also had Sunday afternoons off for church). Together, they made about $97 a month (if she remembers correctly). For the first couple of years, they would use the Hacienda’s automobile to attend church services at the First Baptist Church on 5th Street and 6th Avenue (the building is still there). In 1934, they had saved enough to buy their first car, a 1929 Chevy. In 1937 they had their second child, Laura. Shortly after Laura was born, the Chandlers left Hacienda Del Sol School for Girls and moved into a house off of 21st Street and 5th Avenue. Nona’s ailing and elderly mother also moved from Austin to live with them around this time.
Throughout the rest of the Great Depression, Nona and Francis worked wherever they could, doing cleaning work and varied shifts. Nona cleaned houses during these years for .75 cents an hour. Times were very lean for them and when they both were working, they would have to leave the children with friends. When Francis could not find work, he would care for the kids. Nona remembered these lean times with difficulty, saying that she did not like to think about that time of her life and that sometimes had to rely on the church and their friends in order to get by.
Nona eventually became more involved in the church and began volunteering as a children’s evangelist. This became a paid position and she was ultimately able to stop cleaning to augment her income. She also became more and more involved with The Eureka Club (a black, Christian women’s organization) and, together with her church work, spent a great deal of time helping the community by raising money for and caring for the residents of local children’s homes, daycare centers, hospitals, and rest homes.
In 1984, Ms. Chandler, at 78 years old, was interviewed about her life, growing up as an African-American during segregation, and her time as an employee at Hacienda Del Sol. I recently went to the historical society and listened to that interview. Below are some direct quotes from that interview with Nona:
“We had the Hacienda Del Sol School for Girls. The girls of the east or the rich girls like McAdoo’s granddaughter and all the rich people have sent their daughters to this school and we were maids, porters, at this school in the foothills…Hacienda Del Sol School. “
“The principals of Hacienda Del Sol School for girls…were exceptionally nice. We had Sunday afternoon off and when we didn’t have a car, they would let us have the station wagon they used for the girls, when they would go wherever they had to go. ‘So just take the station wagon, we’re not going anywhere’ . So, we’d go into town for church…we never did miss church…unless there was an emergency and they asked us to stay, and we would stay.”
“My husband and I had our son with us, so we were out there working…cleaning the girls’ rooms, waiting the tables, that was our job…maid and janitor. Cleaning the rooms, waiting tables…breakfast , lunch and dinner. Oh, and help the cook wash the dishes. That was our job. We worked 7 days a week…Saturdays were half-day and we’d come into town”.
“The maid and cook had rooms. Room enough for 2 twin beds and a dresser, and a chair…and then the bath. Ours, because we were married, we had the one room. The other man, the cook, he was over on that side, with his room, with his bath. So that’s where we lived. Didn’t have to pay rent and come back into town, go back and forth. We lived out there”.
“It wasn’t a taskmaster’s job…no, there was leniency on all. If we had to go somewhere, ‘You wanna go? Go ahead. We’ll have the cooks, he’ll just make sandwiches and milk and punch…and whatever.’ If we had to go, it was leniency all along and we helped where we could help, so I guess it was an even situation…”
“I didn’t cook. They had the good, big range. When you have at least 20 girls, and teachers, and the help, and the men that took care of the stables…they had a great big range for the man to cook on, and by the way, he was a good cook cause that’s where I started gaining weight!”
Francis and Nona’s daughter Laura (Laura E. Campbell) passed away in Tucson at the age of 22 on March 11, 1960.
Sir Francis passed away in Tucson on November 26, 1970.
Nona passed away on April 3, 1988 at the age of 82 years old.
Their son Francis N. Chandler passed away June 12, 1994.
All 4 are buried at South Lawn Cemetery here in Tucson.
Hi, I’m Mauro Trejo, a Walking Tour Guide and Tucson historian. I offer private and group tours as well as history talks.
