Eulalia ‘Lola’ Pantoja Mendez, 90, of Caldwell, Texas passed away Thursday, December 21, 2023, at home with her family by her side.
A public visitation will be from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. Friday, December 29, 2023, with a Rosary recited at 7 p.m. in the chapel at Phillips & Luckey Funeral Home in Caldwell.
A Mass of the Christian Burial will be celebrated at 11 a.m. Saturday, December 30, 2023, at St. Mary’s Catholic Church Reverend Melvin Dornak will officiate. Burial will follow at St. Mary’s Catholic Cemetery.
Lola was born July 4, 1933, in Keller, Texas, to Francisco Pantoja and Maria Hernandez. Eulalia was the youngest of seven children, four brothers and two sisters.
In her spare time, she loved to travel all over the United States with her family, dancing, gardening, embroidery. She loved watching her daytime game shows: The Price is Right and Wheel of Fortune, going to casinos to play the slot machines and spending time on her porch reading books or napping.
Mrs. Mendez welcomed everyone into her home and you would never leave without a good home cooked meal.
Eulalia was employed at the Texas Hotel in Fort Worth, Texas in the laundry room where she met the love of her life Victor T. Mendez, Sr. They dated for a short time when they decided to move to Caldwell. They were married at St. Mary’s Catholic Church on July 5, 1947. In this union, they raised nine children. For many years, she was a homemaker, wife and mother.
In 1962, she began working at Nagel Manufacturing Company and retired with over 35 years of service. Retirement was not anything she expected so she decided on a part-time job at Caldwell Cleaners. Once again, she retired from the cleaners after 10 years of service. Like clockwork, every Friday she had her hair done and then afterwards visited her ‘ladies’ from the cleaners.
Eulalia was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Victor Mendez Sr.; and son, Natividad ‘Ned’Mendez; her grandson, Peter Allen; daughter-inlaw, Michelle Mendez; four brothers; and two sisters.
She is survived by her two sons, Pablo Mendez and his wife, Sylvia of Bryan, Victor Mendez, Jr. of Caldwell; six daughters, Jane Mendez, Mary Pipkin and her husband, Lanny, Victoria Garcia,Yolanda Brinkman and husband, Larry, Carol Coker and her husband, Weldon, all of Caldwell, and Susan Hovis and her husband, Jeffrey of Charleston, West Virginia; twenty-seven grandchildren; twenty-four great grandchildren and nine great-great grandchildren.
Express condolences at PhillipsandLuckey.com.
PHILLIPS & LUCKEY FUNERAL HOME 404 W. Buck St. Caldwell, Tx 77836 979-567-3232