Filiberto Mike Mendez

Filiberto was born November 13, 1953 in No Man’s Land, Arizona aka “The Island.” He was the second oldest of 7 children born to Saturnino “Cuti” and Rafaela “Guera” Mendez.

He is survived by his loving wife Adelaide “Lylia” Mendez, sons Nicholas (Lorena) Mendez, Matthew Mendez, and grandsons Mason and Cyrus Mendez and his 3 brothers and 3 sisters.

He met the love of his life, Lylia Almodova as teenagers at Yuma High School and they were married on September 3, 1977. Nick was born a year later and Matt came along 3 years later. The love Filiberto and Lylia had for each other was stronger than anything and he was her “Babe”. While he often had a reserved way about him, she was the one who knew how to soften him up and bring the loving side out of him.

Filiberto was a letter carrier for the US Post Office, retiring after a nearly 40 year career. He was the family historian having learned and remembered about the family’s past through stories shared by his parents. This made him the sought after expert from family members when they wanted to know about a relative or just to hear stories. He was an avid outdoorsman enjoying fishing, going dove, quail, and deer hunting with his sons and friends around the county. He was a very proud Yuma Criminal and would rarely be seen without a Criminal hat or shirt.

He was very proud of his two sons and loved watching them play sports growing up, often times ending up helping out their teams as an assistant coach. It was through their sports that he became a second dad to a lot of their close friends.

It brought him joy to share about their accomplishments and what they were doing in life. He found another level of love with his 2 grandsons. He cherished the opportunity to be with them while they were growing up and it brought him so much happiness when they would visit him.

Services will be Thursday June 25th. Viewing will be from 8:00am - 10:00am at Johnson Mortuary Chapel

1415 S 1st Ave, Yuma, AZ, 85364.

Rosary will follow at 10:30 am

Immaculate Conception Catholic Church

505 S Avenue B, Yuma, AZ, 85364 with Mass beginning at 11:00am.

Burial will follow mass at Desert Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery. 1415 S 1st Ave, Yuma, AZ, 85364.

Pallbearers will be Nicholas Mendez, Matthew Mendez, Mason Mendez, Cyrus Mendez, Bobby Mendez Jr, Mike Mendez, James Beltran Jr, and Henry Espinoza Jr.