Charles Olvera Lona’s family says he was more than a brother, father, uncle or cousin. For generations of Latinos and others who knew him and his community activism, Lona was a force of nature for Kansas City’s Brown Pride movement.
“He got things done and became a champion for the Westside,” said his brother William “Memo” Lona, referring to the city’s historic Mexican American neighborhood. “He transformed the community at the sociopolitical, cultural and educational levels.”
Charles Lona, known by many as Pops, Chuck, and Uncle Charlie, died of prostate cancer in late June, at his home just down the block from the Hispanic community organization he helped transform, the Guadalupe Centers.
“Charlie had a vision where he saw the Center providing social services and aid to community residents that would be provided not only through staff, but through Chicano staff,” Memo Lona said.
The outpouring of support since his brother’s death has been heartwarming, Memo Lona said, including from community and political leaders like Jackson County Executive Frank White.
“The offices of (U.S. Rep.) Emanuel Cleaver are also going to be giving us a resolution,” Memo Lona said. “They all knew Charlie well, particularly Emanuel Cleaver, who knew him back from the late-60s, early-70s, when we first started getting involved in the community.”
Charles Lona was born on Oct. 4, 1946, to Wesley H. and Luz O. Lona, and grew up in the Westside neighborhood with siblings Wesley, Esther and William. After graduating from Westport High School and attending Kansas City Junior College, now Metropolitan Community College, he took over the family business, Lona and Sons Automotive.
Over the next 50 years, Lona transformed his father’s vision into a shop specializing in repairing starters, alternators and other electrical components for cars and trucks. As he got older, Lona drew inspiration from his sons, Chistopher and Timothy Lona, to rethink the business again, this time as an expression of Chicano pride and activism.
The family then became early pioneers in building custom lowrider cars in Kansas City, Timothy Lona said.
“So we changed the name to Lona and Sons Hydraulics and we went at it full-time,” Lona said. “We got into it deep. We started doing cars that nobody else had put out.”
In its heyday, the business, now named Boulevard Customs, helped grow Kansas City’s lowrider reputation regionally and nationally.
“My dad loved traveling. That was his deal: Load up the van, load up the dually (truck) and, ‘Let's go,’” Timothy Lona said. “We would go to Chicago, Houston, San Antonio, Albuquerque, L.A., Phoenix, even to the East Coast.”
“He was basically responsible for putting Kansas City on the lowrider map,” he said.
Westside pride
Lona's commitment to his community expanded beyond his businesses, said his eldest son, Christopher Lona, noting his father fought for better schools and political representation for the city’s Mexican American residents.
“He was a warrior,” Christopher Lona said. “If you were in need and if you were the underdog, the one man you count on was him.”
Charles Lona got involved in the national Chicano Movement in the late 1960s, his family said, and was heavily influenced by their activism for Mexican American equality and unity with the Black Panthers.
“My dad thought everybody was one — we’re all brown, just different shades,” said Christopher Lona. “He instilled that in us.”
Charles Lona helped found the Kansas City Chapter of the Brown Berets and the Aztlan Center, a Chicano civil rights and cultural organization, and even worked with iconic Mexican American labor activist Cesar Chavez, according to an obituary provided by the family.
Memo Lona said his brother also organized rallies and marches for workers' rights and anti-discrimination campaigns.
“That was part of the Chicano ideology: that we were all the same. There should not be any friction between an immigrant and a second- or third- or fourth-generation family here on the Westside,” Memo Lona said. “He preached that we should unite to fight against the real enemy that were oppressive forces, those that were intentionally divesting from the community and so forth.”
Lona’s legacy continues to bring improvements to the Westside neighborhood. He was instrumental in transforming the Guadalupe Centers into a powerful community-based organization that is separate from the Catholic diocese, according to the family’s obituary. The nonprofit now operates 12 facilities across the metro and serves 20,000 residents each year.
Even failing health toward the end of his life didn't quell Lona’s fighting spirit, said his youngest daughter, Charleigh Lona. She said he continued his community activism through chemotherapy appointments and other cancer treatments, including playing an instrumental role in pushing the Kansas City Council to spend $3 million on a new public pool in the Westside, set to open in 2025.
“He was fighting to decrease the taxes and advocating for the pool,” Charleigh Lona said. “He was taking calls all the way up to April 2023 while having trouble recovering from knee surgery. That’s when we found out the cancer was Stage 4.”
“My dad's the man and he deserves all the credit. So absolutely this (pool) should be Charlie Lona’s pool,” she said.
Funeral services for Charles Olvera Lona were July 7 at the Guadalupe Centers’ Westside campus.
