Donato Guzmán Aguayo, founder of Chapala’s San Francisco funeral home, passed away on Monday, December 7, at the age of 95.
Donato was born on October 30, 1930, one of nine children born to Pedro Guzmán Reyes and María Guadalupe Aguayo. His father was a former soldier in the Mexican Revolution who settled his family in Chapala in 1924, where he started a leather workshop to produce saddles and huarache sandals. From an early age, Donato worked as a clerk in his father’s huarache shop at the Chapala market and also held odd jobs as a salesman of bakery goods and religious figures. He took over the family business when his parents and siblings emigrated to Santa Barbara, California, in the 1950s. He joined them there in 1958, but dissatisfied with life there, he returned to Chapala three months later, relinquishing his green card status in exchange for the visitor visa he maintained for the rest of his life.
Recognized as an astute entrepreneur and trustworthy citizen, Donato was appointed to key posts in the municipal government over time, serving as vice president in 1957 and city treasurer in 1960.
In 1966, he established the Funeraria San Francisco at the prompting of Chapala doyen Natalia Gómez de Cuevas, who loaned him 10,000 pesos to complement an equal amount of his own savings to get the business off the ground. At that time, there were no funeral homes in the community; people simply had simple wooden coffins made by a local carpenter to bury the dead.
Starting with a supply of ten professional coffins, four candelabras for wakes, and a used pickup truck as a hearse, Donato built the funeral business on Calle López Cotilla over half a century. Upon retiring in 2015, he passed ownership and management on to his three youngest children.
Donato married Rosario Zambrano Silva in 1952, with whom he fathered son Arturo and daughter Cecilia, who preceded him in death, and surviving daughters Leticia and Lourdes. He is also survived by his second wife, Graciela Pulido Chavarría, and their three children: Cinthya, Donato, and Diego Alberto Guzmán Pulido.
Family, friends, and admirers gathered for his funeral Mass on December 8 at the San Francisco parish, following an overnight wake at the funeral home.