Nash Candelaria ’48

The myth persists: in order to be successful, you have to know what you are doing with your life by college graduation. Nash Candelaria ’48, accomplished chemist and military officer turned prolific author, defies this myth. His story proves that, by taking advantage of all opportunities and not being afraid to make major life changes when necessary, you can create your own unique pathway to success.

After enrolling at UCLA in 1944, Candelaria took a rigorous series of chemistry courses. Good grades led to a job tutoring other students in chemistry in addition to work as a professor’s assistant in chemistry labs. After graduation he worked for four years as a research chemist for a pharmaceutical company in Glendale, Calif. Among his many projects, he helped develop a substitute for blood plasma.

“Chemistry was confining and lacking in what stirred my emotions” Candelaria says. “Writing was a matter of major changes in my life after college. I was not thrilled at being a chemist and found myself still searching once I had even graduated.”

In 1952 Candelaria resigned his chemistry position and enlisted as an officer in the Air Force during the Korean War, studying ground electronics. Still, he knew electronics was not his calling. After being discharged from the service, he returned to Los Angeles and found a job as editor for a scientific research organization.

During this time Candelaria also took short story writing courses at Los Angeles City College, playwriting at USC and television writing at UCLA. He later took a series of writing-related day jobs, but none offered him the artistic outlet he desired. To make up for this, he would spend late nights writing nonstop about history, culture and his own family’s experience in New Mexico.

Although born in Los Angeles, Candelaria can trace his family history back to the first Hispanic settlers in New Mexico. This motivated him to write about the New Mexico identity and the culture clash experienced by New Mexico Hispanics. He is especially known for his tetralogy of novels about the Rafa family. The first, Memories of the Alhambra, tells of a middle-class family that moves from Albuquerque to Los Angeles in search of the American dream. The second book, Not by the Sword, takes readers back to the Mexican-American War in New Mexico. The third novel, Inheritance of Strangers, describes the “Americanized” New Mexico that evolved with the coming of the transcontinental railroad. The last of the four books, Leonor Park, depicts New Mexico during Prohibition and prior to the Great Depression with the resulting greedy contest for land. Many scholars consider Memories of the Alhambra to be one of the seminal novels of Chicano literature and, in 1983, Not by the Sword received the American Book Award.

Candelaria says his readers consider him the “historical novelist of the Hispanic people of New Mexico.” However, he believes his work can relate to any group searching for identity and trying to maintain ties to heritage and cultural roots in new environments. His success at documenting the richness of Hispanic culture in New Mexico at pivotal times in its history has engaged fans across the nation. With his wide range of talents, Candelaria is a Bruin virtuoso. His story proves that what you major in during college does not necessarily have to define the rest of your life.