Like many Mexican Americans during the Great Depression, her father Guadalupe Mendoza worked at many trades, including a brief stint as a carpenter in the burgeoning Hollywood movie industry, before settling as a farm laborer, following the harvests throughout the state of California. It was during one of these harvests in the Central Valley that Jessie was born on a farm in Pond.
As she grew up, Jessie would remain with her mother at home, learning to cook, sew, and press clothes, while her older siblings would go out into the fields to harvest crops. The skills she learned from her mother would serve her well in her 44 years of marriage to her husband Jack Martinez, Sr., and her five children Jack, Jr., Charles, Joanne, Tony and Steve. Well into her 80s, Jessie would prepare Thanksgiving dinners, and make the traditional Tamales for Christmas and New Years. Anyone who had the good fortune to enjoy a meal prepared by Jessie would have to acknowledge that she was a great cook.
In addition to being a great cook, Jessie was a great dancer and lover of music. Starting with the Big Band sounds of the World War II era, Swing, and to early Rock and Roll of the Fifties, Jessie could dance to any kind of music. She was not the typical stay at home mom of the Sixties. She always had the current hits playing on the radio, including songs by the Beatles, Rolling Stones, the Supremes, Petula Clark, and Herb Albert with his Tijuana Brass. She never stopped dancing and following music, with Rod Stewart being one of her favorites later in life.
Jessie was also a Hollywood movie buff. She knew the names of hundreds of actors and actresses, going back to the 1930s, and could name the movies they appeared in, along with their co-stars, solely by looking at a photograph. It was truly amazing.
But more than anything else, Jessie was kind and compassionate, and a gentle spirit. Anyone who knew and spent time with her would always feel a peaceful and calming presence. She did not have much in the way of formal education, but she was very wise and prudent, and always spoke from the heart. In her later years, she became the matriarch of the Mendoza family in the San Bernardino/Colton area, and her home was the gathering place for the family. She will be profoundly missed.
