The Denny’s diner chain on 13th Street remains Ronnie De Anda’s favorite place for a cup of coffee, despite the city’s growing demand for cafes and specialty drinks.
“We come here frequently because the people are good,” De Anda told The Merced FOCUS last month, a day after he publicly stepped down as District 2 council representative, a position he was elected to in 2022.
De Anda, an 84-year-old retired postal worker who replaced incumbent Fernando Echeverria in the District 2 seat, cited health complications from a stroke as his reason for resigning.
Applications for the position, which includes a four-year term ending next November, closed to District 2 residents on Nov. 21. and are under review of the Merced City Council. Interviews and possible appointment to the vacant seat will be held Dec. 2.
Merced cowboys
Ronnie De Anda was born in Tuolumne County in June 1941 to Mexican parents from Guadalajara.
It was World War II in the region, where, according to the state Office of Historic Preservation, approximately 4,669 Japanese-American citizens would be detained without due process at the Merced County Fairgrounds.
When De Anda arrived in Merced as a toddler with his family, the budding city was home to a population of under 15,000 people. Today, the agricultural city’s approximately 90,000 residents include the UC Merced student population.
“My older brother wanted to be a cowboy,” said De Anda, who grew up on the corner of P and 11th streets in southwest Merced alongside nine siblings. “There were ranches here in this area, and my mother, to appease him, came down here.”
His parents, a homemaker and a sawmill operator, bought a property in the neighborhood, where De Anda met his wife, Blasa De Anda, as childhood neighbors. They will have been married 64 years in December.
De Anda remembered a different Merced when he was growing up. For example, residents without refrigerators relied on the town’s ice house downtown to preserve food items.
“Ice house, where they made ice – and not the kind of ICE that is running around loose,” De Anda said, commenting on the ongoing arrests nationwide by roving Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents.
A Mercedian’s council legacy
De Anda participated in his last council meeting on Oct. 20, when he publicly resigned. He served on the council for almost two years.
His colleagues, both current and former council members, described De Anda as a beloved and dedicated south Merced resident.
“You stepped up to help the city when we needed you most, and I’ll never forget that,” District 3 Councilmember Mike Harris told De Anda from the dais.
A retired sheriff’s sergeant and planning commissioner, Harris said he worked for years with De Anda’s son, a sheriff’s department employee, before sitting with him on the council.
De Anda garnered strong support from the law enforcement community. His District 2 campaign was endorsed by the Merced Police Officers Association. In 2023, he voted to investigate the city’s police department, but changed his mind after meeting with three members of the police department.
Mayor Matthew Serratto described De Anda as a legend who defeated a bully, referencing De Anda’s victory against Echeverria, an embattled former District 2 council member, in the 2022 general election.
De Anda gave a tearful goodbye speech from the dais and reaffirmed his love for the city.
Prior to serving as council member, De Anda recalled serving as a mail man for 35 years.
He described an incident in which a resident recognized him as her childhood mailman.
The resident’s friend interrupted her, saying, “No, that was everybody’s mail man,” De Anda said, adding, “And I literally floated away.”