Felicitas Mendez; Filed Key School Desegregation Suit

Felicitas Mendez, whose family led a drive more than 50 years ago to desegregate Orange County schools, has died at the age of 82.

Family members said Tuesday that Mendez died of heart failure Sunday at her daughter’s home in Fullerton.

Mendez and her husband, Gonzalo, operated an asparagus farm in Westminster during the 1940s.

They sued the Westminster school district in 1945 after their children were not allowed to attend school with Anglo children. Their suit and the resulting court ruling set in motion the integration of schools across Orange County.

Last year, in honor of the family’s achievement, the Santa Ana Unified School District named its new space-saver school in their honor: the Gonzalo and Felicitas Mendez Fundamental Intermediate School.

Gonzalo Mendez died in 1964. Felicitas Mendez is survived by six children, 21 grandchildren and 13 great-grandchildren.

About 200 relatives and friends gathered at a memorial for Mendez in Whittier on Wednesday night. At the service, Pastor Fortunato Hernandez said Mendez had asked him recently why God had allowed her to live so long.

“God didn’t take her away until she saw some of the things she needed to see,” Hernandez said, referring to the recognition she received in her last years. “She had to see the results of her effort, of her sacrifice.”

A funeral service is scheduled for 1 p.m. today at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier.