Andrea R. Mendoza; Ex-School PTA President

Andrea R. Mendoza, who saw Santa Paula transformed from a sleepy, rural village to a modern city, died Friday following a brief illness. She was 81.

Mendoza, known to her family and friends as “Andy,” was born Nov. 30, 1915, in Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua, Mexico. Her parents moved to Santa Paula when she was an infant. She stayed for the rest of her life.

Mendoza attended Santa Paula’s public schools, and insisted that each of her children complete their education. She was an active member of the PTA and served as president, according to her daughter, Evelyn Porras of Santa Paula.

“Education was very important to my mother--it’s a legacy she left her children,” Porras said.

She and Frank F. Mendoza, her husband of 64 years, met when Andrea, then a teenager, was sent to a neighboring farm to buy eggs.

“She said she would walk down Ojai Road, which was a dirt road then, holding a pail for the eggs, and she would see this horseman coming the other way,” Porras said. “It was my father, and she said that at first she was afraid of the man riding the horse. But when she got older, they met and fell in love, and then they married.”

In addition to her husband and her daughter, Mendoza is survived by sons Frank of Fremont, Albert of Long Beach, and Edward of Santa Paula; 13 grandchildren; and 20 great-grandchildren.

Rosary will be recited at 7 tonight at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church in Santa Paula. Funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. Wednesday, also at the church. Burial will follow at Pierce Brothers Santa Paula Cemetery.

Arrangements are under the direction of Garcia Mortuary, Oxnard.