This Friday, Feb. 25, a Celebration of Life will be held for Elvira Camarillo Orozco, the first Latina elected to public office as the city treasurer in the city of San Fernando. She was 91 years old.
Orozco, affectionately known as “Mima,” passed away Feb. 11, surrounded by her family.
She was born on Jan. 25, 1933, in Van Nuys – the youngest of four children. Orozco grew up in Pacoima and graduated as a San Fernando High School salutatorian in 1951. She became the first in her family to attend a higher education institution when she enrolled at Los Angeles Valley College. She earned an associate’s degree in business administration.
In 1960, Orozco was hired by the city of San Fernando as the deputy city treasurer. She held the position for 10 years. She would later be elected as the city’s treasurer, an office she kept for another 33 years.
Her accomplishments didn’t come easily for women of her generation but would pave the way for other women who worked and were elected to hold office at city hall.
A commitment to public service and education was handed down to her family, including her daughter Julie Ruelas, who served as mayor and councilmember for the San Fernando City Council until her passing in 2011.
Orozco and her family’s involvement with the surrounding community was notable. Orozco was a member of several local organizations, including the San Fernando Women’s Club, Valley Family Center, the Pioneer Cemetery Restoration Committee and the San Fernando Museum of Art and History. She was an active parishioner at the Santa Rosa Catholic Church and she founded the LA Mission Federal Credit Union in 1971.
Orozco is remembered for her dedication. Margarita Solis worked under Orozco as her deputy city treasurer in 1997 and finished Orozco’s term as city treasurer when she retired. Solis said that everything she knows was taught to her by Orozco. The two would remain in touch over the years.
Solis recounted how Orozco was a woman of integrity and just how serious she was when it came to her responsibilities as city treasurer.
“She really worked hard. She was a great woman,” Solis said. “She was very honest, hardworking and just very loyal to her job.
“When I first started working for her, she would really ingrain in me that we have to be the safe[guard] for that money, and we have to take that seriously,” Solis continued. “She was one of a kind. I really mean that.”
Orozco is survived by three of her children, 12 grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren.
Services will be held at 10 a.m. at Utter McKinley Mortuaries in Mission Hills, followed by a funeral mass at 12 p.m.
I knew fiscal conservative Elvira Orozco as a pleasant and responsible public servant during my tenure as city council member and mayor of San Fernando. In 1972, Elvira was elected San Fernando first Mexican American City Treasurer, the first Latina elected in Southern California. She was first employed in 1960 as deputy city treasurer. She retired in 2005. I will miss her.