September had been a month of celebrating Bertha Mendoza’s birthday, as well as her son's and grandson's. “We just decided to throw a big birthday party on Saturday," Sept. 21, Guillermo Mendoza told NBC News in a phone interview. Bertha was proud of her four children: Emanuel Ibarra, Guillermo Mendoza, Clarissa Flores and Esteban Mendoza. Bertha told her that it would probably be their last conversation and that she loved her, Guillermo said. “If you just spoke to her a couple of minutes, you felt like she was your mom," Guillermo said.

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Persons: Bertha Mendoza’s, It's, Mendoza, Hurricane Helene, Guillermo, Guillermo Mendoza, ” Bertha Mendoza, Bertha, Emanuel Ibarra, Clarissa Flores, Esteban Mendoza, Elías Mendoza, “, Centro Cristiano Siempre Gozosos, ” Guillermo, wasn’t, ‘, couldn’t, Helene, Guillermo wasn’t, I’m, ” Organizations: Impact Plastics Inc, NBC News, Centro Cristiano Siempre, Authorities, Baptist Church, Erwin Locations: Erwin , Tennessee, Hurricane, United States, Erwin, Guanajuato, Michoacán, Mexico, Johnson City , Tennessee, Johnson City