Posted by Judy Maruszko on Apr 13, 2018

Craft Talk with Rick Mendoza

 
Speaker today is none other than our Rick Mendoza, who gave one of the best Craft Talk in our club history. Rick was born on 1934 to Amallio and Alyce Mendoza in San Antonio, Texas. Rick has 3 sisters, he is the eldest, a spoiled only boy. In Central Catholic High School, Rick performed in senior play “Sunshine Twins” when he broke through the longtime shyness and became the current magnificent personality that he is.  Rick’s first job was in Piggly Wiggly at age 14....

When Rick was in high school junior year, the family traveled to Los Angeles for a vacation and visited the UCLA where he decided that was the college for him. Rick studied Medical Microbiology in UCLA, which lead him to the career in Kaiser for years. Rick met Helen in UCLA swimming class where Rick was a coaching assistant to swimming coach (Rick picked the pretties girls for his team). When Rick asked Helen for a date, Helen couldn’t recognize him after he put on the clothes. What a romantic story! Rick and Helen have been married for 62+ years, they have 2 daughters - Beth (a nurse practitioner), Jackie (a nurse case manager), and 2 sons – Ricky (a para legal) and John (an attorney, recently deceased). They have 7 known grandchildren (not sure if Ricky has any unknown kids) Rick’s career started in Kaiser Sunset on1955 while attending UCLA, then he moved to Kaiser South-Bay on 1961 as Director of Clinical and Analytical Pathology Lab.
 
Since high school, Rick has a passion for photography and later an interest in underwater world. So, Rick became a certified scuba diver, eventually being certified to be a scuba instructor to spread his experience with other. Rick also enjoys long distance running, he has run 8 marathons, best record is 3 hours and 38 minutes. Rick also loves to ski; the family goes to Mammoth Lake every winter.
When Rick retired from Kaiser on 1986, he opened a travel Agency in Redondo Beach, where he started looking for networking opportunities, after visiting Lion’s Club and other organizations, he fell in love with the fun environment and fellowship of Rotary International. Rick joined Redondo Beach Rotary Club in 1986, became club president in 1993-1994, District Governor 2002-2003 when Jim Hartman was PVP Rotary Club president. Rick’s Rotary responsibility is a legend, lists include Humanitarian Projects and Fundraiser, Foundation Chair, International Chair, District Conference Committee, District Rotary Foundation Chair (3 years), Zone Institute Organizing Committee (over 10 years), and many more.
Two years ago, Rick decided to join PVP Rotary Club since they have been living in PV for over 52 years. And it’s a great Gain for our club, a loss to RB Club.