Xochitl Pena

The Desert Sun

Roy Salazar, who at 104 was the oldest-living Mexican American pioneer in Indio, died Saturday evening. He had been suffering from congestive heart failure and fluid in the lungs.

Roy had lived in Indio since around 1930 and purchased his home across the polo fields on Avenue 50 in 1960 when there wasn’t much of anything else around.

Living so close to the Empire Polo Club, which now hosts the internationally renowned Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival and Stagecoach country music festival, ingratiated him with many of the festivalgoers who would stop by to say hi or have a beer with him. His cabinets were full of liquor - gifts from festival fans.

Salazar would be sitting on his front porch, suspenders and cowboy hat on and often sipping a gin and tonic.

"He really loved life and he enjoyed everyone that came to visit him," said his daughter Nellie Smith. "He was aware of everything. He was all there."

After years of just hearing the pounding music wafting over his home, Roy was finally invited to attend the 2014 Stagecoach when he was 102 years old.

At 102, Indio resident could be oldest at Stagecoach

He only lasted about an hour, but his family appreciated the gesture and novelty of likely being the oldest person there.

"It's a bunch of crazy people … I like it," Roy said at the time.

Throughout his long life, Roy worked as a bartender, served barbecue, worked in a lumber yard, packed fruit, made moonshine and bootleg whiskey during the Prohibition. He also worked in construction, driving trucks and tractors and paving roads.

Indio�s oldest living pioneer turns 104

Roy was married to Charlotte, who has since passed. He had five children, 12 grandchildren, 15 great-grandchildren and at least eight great-great-grandchildren.

In August, Roy celebrated his 104th birthday with a series of four parties. One of them was held at the Tack Room Tavern in Indio. He drank tequila and danced with his granddaughter while surrounded by dozens of family and friends.

In a previous interview with The Desert Sun, he said the secret to his longevity is a daily shot of tequila and minding his own business.

"I live and let live," he said at the time.

His son Dave Salazar, who traveled from Denver each spring to keep his dad company during the festivals, said he thinks his dad knew his time was near.

During a conversation over the Christmas holiday, he said his dad had one request in regards to his dining room cabinet: "He said 'when I die I want you to drink up all this tequila'."

Visitation services will take place from 5 to 8 p.m. Feb. 11 at Christ of the Desert Chapel, 73441 Fred Waring Dr, Palm Desert, with a rosary at 6:30 p.m. A funeral mass will be held at 11 a.m. on Feb. 12 at Our Lady of Perpetual Help, 45-299 Deglet Noor St., Indio, followed by an interment at Coachella Valley Cemetery.