Woman started career in 1954 ... and still loves it 55 years later

In the back corner of the store, past the congested racks of shirts and jeans, beyond the bins of brightly colored flip-flops, Hilda Souza waited for her next customer.

She has spent much of her life here. These four walls feel like home to her. Her bosses feel like her family.

Since 1954, as a matter of fact, she’s been employed with Charles and Frank, a clothing store and one of the first shops to open for business in San Luis, Ariz.

Souza was 23 with a toddler at home when she crossed the Mexico border to ask about a job.

She is 79 now, still commuting from Mexico to work.

Souza, an energetic woman with dark red, chin-length hair, revealed her age with a smile and raised eyebrows, as if she, too, was amazed. And in all that time, she added, she’s missed very little work. There was a vacation here and there, of course.

Up until a few years ago Souza worked full time. She spends less time here now, but age is not the reason. The store is not what it used to be. Although the sign on the storefront still reads Charles and Frank, all but the upstairs is leased to another clothing retailer.

Next year, the owners will sell the rest of the business. That’s also when Souza’s long career will come to an end.

“It’s sad because the store is small,” she said in Spanish. “I feel like it’s mine. But it’s time (to leave) because we’re all tired.”

Souza is not the only longtime employee of Charles and Frank. Nellie Acosta has 35 years with the store. Ray Ruiz and Arthur Urtuzuastegui, who both work at the Charles and Frank auto parts store down the road, have also been there many years.

Souza was the clothing store's first employee, said Alex Urtuzuastegui, who operates what’s left of the clothing business with his cousin, Linda Speakman.

For years, Souza was the buyer for their women’s line.

“She was the head honcho as far as buying goes,” he said. “She knew what she wanted and she was very good at what she did.”

Urtuzuastegui was 8 years old when Souza went to work for his father, Charles, and Uncle Frank. She’s a spiritual person, he said. Hardworking. Loyal.

When he came home from college as a young man, Souza taught him how to manage the company.

“It was like her business,” he said.

Souza extended her arm and motioned toward the front of the store. The clothes she bought once filled the space that’s now occupied by another retailer. Today, Souza’s job is limited to selling Levi's, stacked neatly in a stuffy room upstairs.

“I like very much to work,” she said, giving one reason why she's stayed. Also, the owners “are like part of my family.”

Souza recalled the dirt sidewalks back when she started her career. The road behind the store was also unpaved. Cars got stuck in the sand. Only one other building existed in the city, a marked contrast to the fast-food restaurants and convenience stores clustered along San Luis’ main drag today.

“It was a very pretty store,” she said. “The clothes were very high quality. In the same class as Dillard’s (today).”

Souza was born in Los Angeles. At age 4, her parents moved back to Mexico to farm and settled in San Luis Rio Colorado, Son.

For a time, Souza and her late husband lived in Yuma County and raised four children together. After his death 11 years ago, she moved back to Mexico. On weekdays she leaves her home early to get through the long line at the checkpoint and have coffee with friends.

In her free time, she sings in a chorus and takes dance lessons. She has 16 great-grandchildren.
Asked about her plans after retirement, Souza said she may get a pet or take a computer class. Maybe she’ll “find a boyfriend” on the Internet, she said with a laugh.

Or maybe it’s time to do something that doesn’t come easy to her: “I’m going to rest."