UNICOI COUNTY, Tenn. — The family of Bertha Mendoza, a 56-year-old employee at Impact Plastics in Unicoi County, said she passed away from flooding of the Nolichucky River after Hurricane Helene.
Mendoza is one of the multiple employees who went missing at Impact Plastics. Her son described her as the glue that held the family together.
"In 38 years of marriage, we never spoke about divorce — we were always united," said Elias Mendoza, Bertha's husband.
Elias was 17 years old when he met the woman he would marry, and who would become the mother of his four kids.
"What happened was the typical Mexican love story — I stole my bride away," Elias said.
Bertha and Elias are both from Mexico and have called Unicoi County home for more than 20 years, and their decades of marriage never stopped the couple from endlessly dating one another.
"Not only are you my wife — you are my girlfriend, you are my friend," Elias said.
Her son, Guillermo Mendoza, described his mother as the glue of the family who never missed a chance to feed everyone her home-cooked meals.
"My mom will make sure that they are fed and would not feel alone," Guillermo said. "She was a Godly woman who loved the Lord with all her heart."
Bertha was working at Impact Plastics when the river began to flood the area.
"She reached out to her children and to her husband essentially saying, 'I don't know If I will be seeing you again,'" said Greg Coleman, a Knoxville lawyer representing the Mendoza family. "We are in full investigation mode."
Coleman works at the Milberg Coleman Bryson Phillips Grossman firm. As for Elias, Bertha continues to be his forever bride.
"If the wives today were like her — there would be no more divorces," Elias said.
On Oct. 7, attorneys representing Impact Plastics issued a statement after several employees died in the flooding. That statement is below.
"Our firm represents Gerald O’Connor, the President and Founder of Impact Plastics. There are three things on which Mr. O’Connor and Impact Plastics are concentrated:
- Seeing to the needs of members of the Impact Plastics family and grieving over the wonderful people who were lost in the flood.
- Working with official agencies reviewing the sequence of events of that terrible and tragic day. Of paramount importance is that everyone knows the facts, and the truth, of what happened, and when.
- Planning for the rebuilding of Impact Plastics for the benefit of the employees, the customers, and the community.
Impact Plastics also intends to play a role in Erwin’s flood recovery."