His Wanderings Meet Tragic End

Victor Chavez was the face in the bus window. Going to work. Going to church. Visiting friends. Or just going, somewhere, anywhere.

Though a learning disability robbed him of a driver’s license, Chavez was a master of the bus routes that crisscross Orange County and beyond.

He used that expertise to wander from Tijuana to San Francisco, but Bus 43 to Garden Grove was his favorite escape from loneliness.

Chavez lived with his mother in a small one-bedroom apartment in Anaheim, where he worked odd jobs. But he found a second home to the south.

He was a fixture in the pews at Iglesia de Cristo Llamada Final in Garden Grove, and friends living nearby took him in for days at a time, happy to share their pizza or tacos at dinner time.

A week ago, as he raced to catch the bus from Santa Ana to Anaheim, Chavez’s wandering came to a sudden, tragic end.

Chavez, 34, was crossing North Euclid Street at Westminster Avenue in Santa Ana just before 8:50 p.m. Saturday when he was hit by a car and slammed onto the asphalt. The car sped away, south on Euclid. Chavez died on the street, within blocks of his stop.

“He came by the church the night before, and we talked about love,� said Father Frederico Valentine of Iglesia de Cristo on Century Boulevard, where Chavez attended services as often as three times a week. “It seemed like most of the time he was lonely. He was always asking me to pray for him.�

Chavez is one of five pedestrians killed this year in Santa Ana, the city with the highest pedestrian death rate in Southern California and the third highest in the state, according to a traffic safety study by UC Irvine.

The city in March began a major enforcement effort that includes added jaywalking patrols. Since the crackdown began, police have issued more than 1,500 jaywalking citations and more than 250 tickets to motorists who failed to yield to pedestrians.

Chavez was born in Hidalgo del Parral, Mexico, the third youngest of 16 children. After one of his older brothers established a foothold in Phoenix, Chavez’s mother, Francisca, brought her children to the United States. Chavez was barely a teenager.

After a brief stay in Arizona, the Chavez family moved to Orange County, living in apartments in Fullerton and Anaheim.

Chavez was born “slow,� and had difficulty reading, but he never let it hold him back, said Miguel Chavez of Tyler, Texas, one of his brothers who came home for the funeral.

Despite this disability, Chavez was quick to pick up English. In 1985, he graduated from Troy High School in Fullerton. While he had trouble holding a steady job, Chavez always found work, and was generous to his family and friends, bringing gifts and insisting on buying dinner.

Chavez was a Dodger fan, and loved to play catch and shoot hoops with those brothers and nieces and nephews who lived nearby in Anaheim, friends and family said. He always volunteered to baby-sit.

“Victor was always picky about his appearance. He always looked nice,� said Jose Chavez, one of the brothers who was closest to Victor Chavez. “He also liked to wander. He’d take the bus everywhere--even to San Francisco one time.�

Still, parts of Chavez’s life were a mystery to his family. When hoping on a bus to Garden Grove, Chavez said he was off to visit his girlfriend. But his family never met her. They tried to invite her to the funeral Thursday, but she couldn’t be found.

Jose Chavez said he knew his brother occasionally had run-ins with the law for public drunkenness, but he said it was often a mistake. Chavez had an eye condition that gave him chronic bloodshot eyes, and his disability made him appear slow-witted and drunk, family members said.

Chavez was convicted of a series of public drunkenness charges throughout Orange County, and served short stints in jail. Never anything violent or serious. In 1990, Chavez was ticketed for jaywalking in Costa Mesa.

Police investigating the hit-and-run collision have found no obvious evidence that Chavez had been drinking. But as in all cases, they are currently conducting tests to determine if he had alcohol in his system, said Sgt. Raul Luna, spokesman for the Santa Ana Police Department.

Detectives are searching for the driver of the car, but don’t have any solid leads, Luna said.

While Chavez may have had a few minor run-ins with the police, that shouldn’t be what others judge him by, said Jerry Garcia, one of Chavez’s childhood friends.

“Even if that was the case, Victor was not a bad person. He wouldn’t hurt anybody,� said Sanchez, 31, of West Covina. “I’ve known him for 20 years, and I would always welcome him into my house. He was like an innocent child.�

Amada Jesus Azenon and her family did welcome Chavez into her house in Garden Grove.

Chavez attended church with the Azenons, and usually stayed at their home during weekends. It was no trouble, she said, Chavez was kind and generous. He loved playing with her children. If Azenon needed anything, like groceries, Chavez brought them without asking.

“My heart is broken. He would sleep here, eat with us and tell us his stories,� Azenon said. “He went to church Friday, Saturday and Sunday.�

Only after Chavez died did Azenon learn he had family in Anaheim. He often spoke of having a wife and children--whom she never met--but was silent about his real family. He also called himself Danny.

Azenon said she sometimes wondered about his tales, but saw no need to question them.

“I knew he was looking for attention, for love,� said Azenon, a sister at the church. “I saw him like my son.�

Azenon first began to worry that something might be wrong last Sunday morning. She knew he planned to spend the night in Anaheim, but Chavez usually called on Sunday even if he was going to miss church. The phone never rang.

The night before, Chavez’s mother also was sitting by the phone, worried.

A half-hour before he was killed, Chavez called to let her know he was about to catch the next bus home.