César Chávez, mischievous ("travieso") as a young boy, grew up on the ranch of his grandparents, Cesario (his namesake) and his literate grandmother Dorotea, with a close, extended family, including his parents, Librado Chávez and Juana Estrada, two brothers, Richard and Librado, and two sisters, Rita and Eduvigis, as well as a cousin Manuel. He was very close with his sister Rita and his parents called the two of them "Tito and Tita" (Little Brother and Sister).
HIs family had to make the difficult transition from living in a comfortable adobe house with eighteen-inch thick walls for insulation against the heat and cold in Yuma, Arizona to living in California in a car, under a bridge, under a hanging piece of canvas beneath a tree, and in typical migrant "houses" without windows or doors.
He and his wife Helen Fabela were the parents of eight children, Eloise, Fernanda, Paul, Linda, Silvia , Anthony , Elizabeth, and Anna. César Chávez was the grandfather of thirty-three grandchildren.
