Dario Camacho Chapa

Dario Camacho Chapa passed away on June 21, 2024. He was born in 1937 to Santos Chapa and Paula Camacho in Charlotte, Texas. He was one of seven children and had three brothers and three sisters. His family lived on his grandfather’s farm for several years and moved to San Antonio when Dario was five years old. They lived on Crockett Street behind the Alamo for several years and then moved to San Antonio’s west side where he grew up on Laredo Street. Dario worked shining shoes and selling newspapers in downtown San Antonio at a very early age.

He graduated from Thomas Jefferson High school and moved to Chicago, Illinois where he worked as a mail clerk for the Pullman Railroad Company. He returned to San Antonio and was employed as an aircraft mechanic apprentice at Kelly AFB. He also took classes at San Antonio College and graduated in 1960 with an associate of science degree. He graduated from UT Austin with a double major in math and physics and fulfilled the requirements for a teaching certificate. Dario first taught at Emerson Middle School and later at Fox Tech and South San High schools. While at South San, he sponsored several student activities including the University Interscholastic League competition. Dario was awarded a fellowship through the National Program for Educational Leadership (NPEL) and took graduate courses in educational leadership at both Northwestern and Ohio State universities. During this period, he participated in the Detroit Education Task Force with the goal of revitalizing the Detroit educational school system. After completing the NPEL fellowship, he was appointed by TX Governor Briscoe to an educational task force to study the educational disparities and develop approaches to achieve equity within the educational system of Texas.

He lived his life in service to his community as a teacher and community advocate. He ran non-profit organizations and served on boards and commissions focused on the war on poverty, urban renewal, child abuse and neglect, drug abuse prevention, provided training for building trades, advocated for equitable voting representation, fought for improved public services and infrastructure, and built affordable housing for low income families.

He taught English to Spanish speaking immigrants at Cassiano Park Neighborhood Council. One organization that he worked with was the Committee for Barrio Betterment (CBB). This organization sought to increase the representation of Mexican Americans in political and civic endeavors. He ran for city council as part of their efforts to increase the number of elected Mexican American in San Antonio city government. While the slate of candidates he ran with did not win, they did challenge the existing power structure. These efforts eventually led to better ethnic and gender representation moving the City Council from at large voting districts to single districts that more accurately represented their communities. Dario was employed by several non-profit organizations where he directed programs focused on the war on poverty and urban renewal. He worked at the Mexican American Unity Council (MAUC) from 1970 to 1974. While at MAUC, he ran the manpower, training, and employment program to provide skills for individuals interested in learning building trades. The work was conducted in collaboration with the Center for Community Change in Washington, D.C. From 1974-1979, Dario was the Executive Director of the Mexican American Neighborhood Civic Organization (MANCO) where he administered several programs including a Child Abuse and Neglect Program funded by the National Institute of Mental Health. This program was designed to research the causes of child abuse and neglect and to develop ways to ameliorate the effects child abuse had on children. At MANCO, he also administered a drug abuse prevention program, crime prevention program focused on redirecting youth into gainful endeavors, and ran a youth home for teenage runaways and recovering drug addicts.

In the early 1980s, Dario and his family opened a Tex-Mex restaurant which operated for 10 years on the city’s south side. Dario expanded the restaurant to include catering. The restaurant provided healthy meals for the summer youth nutrition program held at the City of San Antonio’s parks and recreation centers for a couple of years. During this period, Dario worked with many of his family members to prepare and deliver the meals. The restaurant was also awarded a contract to provide three daily meals to the full-time residential patients housed at the Mental Health Mental Retardation’s facilities.

In the 1990s, when Dario retired from teaching, he co-founded an organization called Our Casas Resident Council (OCRC) together with members of several public housing developments. The founding members sought to improve the conditions where they lived. Dario worked with these residents to empower them to obtain life skills, achieve self-sufficiency, seek employment, and eventually seek homeownership. He served as the Executive Director of OCRC in a voluntary capacity. The organization provides many services including the administration, development, and implementation of housing initiatives funded by federal, state, county, and city programs.

Dario also served on multiple boards and commissions to in addition to the non-profit organizations where he worked. These included the Planning and Zoning Commission (San Antonio), MHMR and the Center for Health Care Services, and the Housing Authority of Bexar County. Dario was appointed Chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank’s Advisory Board. He advised the bank on housing programs, loans, and grants that would benefit low and median income families. Dario has also worked with LULAC in several capacities over a fifty year period. He formed LULAC Council 612 (LULAC del Barrio). The council’s mission is to encourage students to attend college by awarding them scholarships. Dario has also served as a LULAC District Director and the Executive Director for the state of Texas. He was a founding member and board treasurer of LULAC’s National Housing Commission.

Through his work over many decades, he implemented programs to upgrade public infrastructure, built affordable housing, empowered residents within their communities, and changed the face of communities and neighborhoods that were historically ignored and neglected. He provided the motivation and leadership to encourage younger members of LULAC to pursue higher education. He is survived by his wife, Emma, his daughters, Lupita and Maria Dolores, and sons-in-law, Jorge and Richard, three sisters and one brother, and many nieces and nephews.

A visitation for Dario will be held Sunday, June 30, 2024 from 5:00 PM to 10:00 PM at Funeraria Del Angel Trevino Funeral Home, 226 Cupples Road, San Antonio, TX 78237. A rosary will occur Sunday, June 30, 2024 from 7:00 PM to 7:45 PM, 226 Cupples Road, San Antonio, TX 78237. A funeral mass will occur Monday, July 1, 2024 from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM at St Alphonsus Catholic Church, 2004 Chihuahua St, San Antonio, TX 78207. An interment will occur Monday, July 1, 2024 from 11:00 AM to 12:00 PM at San Fernando Cemetery II, 746 Castroville Rd, San Antonio, TX 78237.