Ramón “Chunky” Sanchez was raised in a small farming community in southern California in the 1950s. As was common practice at that time, teachers at his local elementary school Anglicized the Mexican American students’ names. Ramón came to StoryCorps to remember a classmate who proved to be the exception to the rule.

Click here to watch “Facundo the Great,” the StoryCorps animation of Ramón’s story.