Jesus Hernandez's Obituary
Jesus Hernandez, known as Jeji to his family, was born on March 15, 1929 to Cruz and Francisco Hernandez in the small town of Espiritu Santo, Zacatecas, Mexico. At the age of 10, after only 4 years of school, Jesus had to quit school to go to work to provide both food and shelter for his mother, Cruz, and sister, Mariana, after they were abandoned by his father.
He had a very difficult life as a boy and young man. As a boy he would work in the fields for the other farmers, where he was paid with food. They would use this food both for their own sustenance and to plant a garden. When he was about 20, he went to work in the silver mines of Zacatecas for several years. After the mines, they went to Monterrey where he worked in construction, as a landscaper, and then on to a textile factory.
When he was about 29 years of age, Jesus, his sister, and mother were contacted by Ben Carpenter who owned a 36,000-acre ranch called Hackberry Creek that existed on what we now know as Las Colinas, Texas; which is very near his last home in Irving, Texas. Ben Carpenter brought Jesus and dozens of his family members to the US to work on his ranch, which is now the town of Las Colinas, TX. While working on the ranch, Jesus fell in love with the Foreman’s daughter Joyce Ann, and they were married.
Jesus and his family left the ranch in 1964 and went to Fairfield, TX so he could return to the textile industry. He only worked in the textile factory for a short time until he left the factory to go back to ranch work in Wortham, TX. He preferred ranch work. However, after one year and one son later, he and his small family moved back to Dallas where he soon learned ceramic tile work.
Even though he had a 4th grade education in Mexico he learned quickly to be a tile-setter’s helper and then a full-blown Master Tile Setter. This trade provided for him and his wife of 60 years, Joyce Ann, and 4 children: Elena, Ricky, David and Michael for the next 25 years.
He became a doting grandfather, affectionately named Jeji, (which came from his grandson Adam’s way of saying “Jesse”) to his 6 grandchildren: Brandon, Willie, Adam, Sarah, Ryan, and Noah, and 4 great grandchildren Cason, Colton, Camden, and Kenna.
After 94 years, a full life, and building a loving family, Jesus passed peacefully surrounded by loved ones.
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