Ayala helped his father by working in the beet farms surrounding Chino and as a shoe shiner.

Segregation also prevented the family from moving to or purchasing property in predominantly Non-Hispanic white neighborhoods in Chino.

[2] Ayala served in the United States Marines in the Pacific Theater during World War II from 1941 to 1946.

[1][2][3] Ayala challenged former Democratic U.S. Rep. George Brown Jr. in a 1972 primary election for a newly redrawn U.S. House seat.

[3] Ayala became known as a maverick and swing vote in the Senate, willing to support or oppose bills from both his fellow Democrats and the Republicans.

Ayala supported a proposal for the Peripheral Canal, which would have diverted water from northern California to the central and southern portions of the state.

The canal proposal was signed into law by Governor Jerry Brown, but opposed by environmental organizations.

A political centrist, he was viewed as more conservative than most of the State Senate's Democrats, but more liberal than most of the body's Republicans.

He refused to join the Senate's Latino caucus, telling the Riverside Press-Enterprise, "I'm of Mexican descent and I'm proud of it, but I don't wear it on my sleeve ...

[1] Rubén Ayala died at the Inland Christian Home in Ontario, California, on January 4, 2012, at the age of 89.