Patricia (Pat) J. Mendoza

Pat Mendoza (nee Blackford) was born in Denver, Colorado, and spent her childhood on Santa Catalina Island, California.  In 1961, she graduated from Ventura High School and in 1964 completed her studies at Ventura Junior College.  Pat married and has two children.  Her daughter, Christa Skinnell and husband, Mathew, live in Woodstock, Georgia, and a son, Jeffrey (Jeff )and his wife Amy reside in Ojai, California.  Pat has three grandchildren.

In 1983, as a single mom with two young children, at the suggestion of a good friend, Pat moved to Lynchburg.  Shortly after arriving Pat secured employment at Westminster Canterbury Lynchburg as the Activities Director.  In 1991, she received an Activities Director Certification from Tidewater Community College in Virginia Beach, VA.  That same year she left WC and until 1995 served as Activities Director at Camelot Hall in Lynchburg.

For some time, Pat had been interested in missionary work; in 1995, she joined the staff at Global Outreach Missions.   After a year of training she embarked on mission fieldwork in Uganda, Africa.  She officially retired in 2015, but still stays in touch with projects that she started during her missionary tenure.

Pat has several interests, which include teaching Sunday School and Bible study, painting with acrylics, reading, and walking for exercise.