James Zafarano

James Zafarano passed away on December 5, 2023, age 96, at home with his wife and family. He was born on September 18, 1927, in Buffalo Valley near Hagerman, NM, to Giacomo Zafarano and Ysabela Zafarano née Sarabia.  He was the fourth of five children. His father, a native of Sicily, was in the Italian Merchant Marines, and had met his mother in South America, a native of Columbia, from where they had emigrated in 1920.

James grew up attending school in a one-room schoolhouse.  He recalls not performing very well in school, in part due to some hearing loss that had occurred from an inner ear infection as a young boy.  He often worked picking cotton on the farms of southeastern New Mexico as a young boy and teenager.  After the death of his father when James was 14, he left school entirely to work full time. In 1946 he joined the army.  After basic training, he spent some time stationed at Fort Belvoir Virginia, and also San Juan, Puerto Rico, but his most memorable time was in Panama with the engineering corps. He enjoyed boxing and in the army was known for being a fierce and agile boxer with a quick left hook. 

After leaving the army near the end of 1948, he returned to southeastern New Mexico and began work as a gas service technician with the then Southern Union Gas Company in Carlsbad, NM.   In 1952 he married Ernestina (Ernestine) Trujillo.  He put in for a transfer with Southern Union and in 1953 they moved to Santa Fe, NM. In 1954 the first of their five children were born.  In the late 1950’s James and Ernestine built a house entirely on their own at the corner of Richard’s Avenue and Rodeo Road, the area being considered far out of town at the time.

In the late 60’s, James and Ernestine Purchased John’s Trailer Court from John and Mae Ardissone, which was a small travel lodge of about 13 RV-sized spaces, with a laundry, bathrooms/showers, gas service station, and ten apartments that had been converted from old barracks on mostly vacant land between Rodeo and Cerrillos Roads near Airport Road.  While still working full time (and mostly double-time) for the now re-named Gas Company of New Mexico, James, along with Ernestine and the help of their oldest children, were able to expand and convert the travel lodge to 125 larger-sized semi-permanent manufactured home rental spaces that entailed trenching for new utility lines and laying concrete patio slabs, renaming it from John’s Trailer Court to The Roadrunner Trailer Lodge.

After working for the Gas Company for 25 years James retired as a gas service technician and in the 70’s he started a small business making entry stairs for manufactured housing.  He sold the stairs primarily to manufactured home dealerships, and at the height of the business he supplied nearly all mobile home dealerships across the state of New Mexico and parts of west Texas.

His distinctive entry stairs could be seen for decades, with wood plank treads painted red and welded steel frames and handrails painted black.  Never one for a desk job, James’ primary roles in the business were metal welding, which he’d taught himself, as well as deliveryman, because he enjoyed the trucking/traveling part and the interaction with his customers.

After owning the mobile home park for 30 years, in the 1990’s the land was re-developed into a retail shopping center by a developer based in Chicago, IL.  The shopping center known as Plaza Santa Fe, containing such iconic big-box anchor tenants as Target, Albertson’s, Best Buy, Michaels, PetSmart, and others, is one of the most recognizable shopping centers in Santa Fe, thanks in part to the street running through the center that bears James’ name, Zafarano Drive, as an enduring legacy to James’ work ethic and life.

Outside of regular exercise and hard work, James’ recreational activities included avid reading, mostly of westerns, some history, working algebra math problems, or studying a little Latin.  Despite a large down-turn in demand for basic entry stairs for manufactured homes (due to a larger demand for on-site custom-built entry porches) James continued to occupy most of his later years with his dogs at his shop until 2012, age 85.

In his last decade James began to decline cognitively, although he was always able to make people laugh and smile with his silly and often ornery personality and sense of humor.  Sometimes self-deprecating and feigning ignorance, often emphasizing his 9th grade level education, he’ll always be remembered by his family and friends for his keen insights through many quips and sayings, some in Latin.

The family would like to thank Home Instead Senior Care for their services in allowing James and his wife to age gracefully at home, and the numerous caregivers too many to mention, who have helped him and his family through the last decade, and especially through his last weeks. James is survived by the love of his life of 71 ½ years his wife Ernestina, his younger sister, his five children Jimmie Sue Wolf, Marcus Edward Zafarano, Violet Marie Rodriguez, Virginia Zafarano, and Giacomo Zafarano, seven grandchildren, five great-grandchildren, and numerous nieces and nephews. 

Funeral arrangements and services Saturday January 6th at 11:00 A.M. at Rivera Family Funerals, 417 E Rodeo Road, Santa Fe, NM  87505, with interment at the Santa Fe National Cemetery on January 8, 2024 at 2:30 P.M.