Preliminary Inventory of the Cecilia Teyechea Denogean de Esquer Papers

Cecilia Teyechea Denogean de Esquer was born in the copper mining community of Superior, Arizona on May 18, 1942. Esquer attended school in Superior and later in Phoenix when her father moved the family to the valley in order to seek better employment and educational opportunities for his children. After graduating from Phoenix Union High School, she received a two year scholarship to attend Arizona State University.

Esquer earned her B.A. in Business Education (1963), M.A. in Spanish (1965), and J.D. (1976) at Arizona State University. She went on to teach Spanish at McClintock High School in Tempe. She also taught Spanish (1971) and Business Law (1981-1985) classes at ASU. Esquer later became an instructor and chairperson of the Justice and Legal Studies Department at Phoenix College.

An advocate of civil rights, Esquer was appointed to the Board of Directors of the Legal Services Corporation in 1978 by President Jimmy Carter. In 1980 she was a hearing officer for the Credentials committee for the Democratic National Convention. In 1982, Esquer was an at large member of the Democratic National Committee and served as a delegate at the 1982 Democratic National Party Convention held in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania on June 25-27. She was also involved in the local community, serving on the board of directors for Community Legal Services and Valle del Sol Inc.; as Commissioner of the Arizona Structural Pest Control commission as appointed by Governor Rose Mofford; as a member of the Ad Hoc Public Access Civil Liberties Union Central Chapter; and as a Commissioner on the Tempe Municipal Arts Commission as appointed by Mayor Harry Mitchell. In addition, Esquer authored a book entitled The Lie About My Inferiority, Evolution of a Chicana Activist.

Cecilia Teyechea Denogean married Elias Yescas Esquer, a long-time and prominent educator in the Maricopa Community College system, in 1965. The couple had two children, Andrea and Marcos. Cecilia Esquer died of the West Nile virus in Phoenix on December 4, 2010.