Family of Impact Plastics employee remember final phone conversations

ERWIN, Tenn. (WJHL) — Guillermo Mendoza can still remember the last phone call he received from his mother, Bertha, in the morning hours of Sept. 27.

Mendoza said his mother told him she loved him and said,  “It looks like it’s getting bad weather. Don’t. Don’t go outside if you don’t have to. And don’t take my grandchildren outside.”

Bertha Mendoza was among the employees stranded when the flooding hit Impact Plastics near I-26 in Erwin.

Seven days later, her family is making sense of the loss and remembering the woman they described as the backbone of their family.

“She was the healer of our family. She loved to cook for her family, for her grandchildren,” Guillermo told News Channel 11, sitting at the family dining table where they gathered for holidays and regular meals.

Guillermo said September was a special month for the family, with Bertha’s birthday on Sept. 2 and several other family birthdays scattered across the month.

A few weekends ago, the extended family, including Bertha’s four grandchildren, gathered at Fishery Park to celebrate.

“Everybody was smiling,” Guillermo said. “I mean, everybody loved food and it was a good memory of her. And she said, ‘Hey, I made you guys a surprise. I made you guys tamales and, you know, normally reserved those for Christmas.'”

“My father was saying this December is not going to be the same,” Guillermo translated, for his father Elias.

Elias and Bertha were married for 38 years.

Both Elias and Guillermo said they received calls from Bertha on the day of the floods before they lost contact with her.

They said emergency responders contacted them Sunday and asked them to help identify Bertha’s remains. They did so because of her jewelry, and the family said a lab confirmed the findings.

Now, Guillermo said, the focus is on celebrating Bertha’s life.

“Our priority right now is just putting my mom to rest,” he said.

News Channel 11 asked Elias what he would say to his wife if she were here today.

“Te extraño con todo mi corazón,” he said.

“That I miss her with all of my heart,” Guillermo translated.

Services for Bertha Mendoza are scheduled for next week. She leaves behind three children, along with Guillermo and four grandchildren.

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