Photo Credit: Personal Photo
By Nevaeh Antes ‘27
At just seven years old, Fransisco Javier Mendoza had a life changing experience – leaving behind his home in Puerto Rico and moving to the United States.
“I had to completely adjust to a new way of life,” Mendoza said. “I was learning English at school while still speaking Spanish at home. It wasn’t easy at first.”
Even now, years later, Mendoza knows moving came with many challenges, but it also opened doors for him that he may not have had otherwise. “There are more job opportunities here than there would have been back home,” he explained.
For the past 26 years, Mendoza has been working at Turkey Hill Dairy. Recently, he has been making a change. He is switching from third shift to first shift for the first time in decades. “I wanted to spend more time with my family,” he said. “Now I get to see my wife, my dog, and granddaughter more often.”
Family has been the center of Mendoza’s life. He has lived in Lancaster for 53 years and has been with wife Linda Mendoza, for 26 of those years. The couple, who married in April of 2008 after getting engaged in 2002, have built their lives in Lancaster together.
Outside of those things, he enjoys his dog, Lola, a Shih Tzu poodle terrier mix, and his long-time passion for baseball – especially the New York Yankees. “The Yankees were one of the first teams I ever saw play when I came here,” he said.
When he was asked about the travel to the United States he recalled, “it was maybe four hours on a plane. But to a seven-year old, it felt like an eternity.”
Needing to adjust to a new country still had its difficulties. “The hardest part was learning a completely new language without knowing anybody,” he said. Regardless, he still learned how to adapt and persevere.
When he was asked if he would change anything, he was very clear, and stated, “No, I wouldn’t. There were more opportunities here, and it made my life what it is.”
Today Mendoza wishes to be remembered in a heartfelt way. “I’d like people to remember me as an outgoing person who had a joyful life,” he said. His story is not just about moving, it’s about appreciation. As a child he had to learn the ways in the United States and adapted to this new way of life that he started to build for himself.