LODI, Calif. — After more than a month of battling coronavirus, Job Sanchez, a father, husband, and the owner of Casa Mexicana in Lodi passed away on Thursday. He was 52 years old.
His daughter, Janelie Sanchez said losing her dad has been a shock.
"He FaceTimed us and he had no machines, no nothing -- he was just talking to us normally," Janelie told ABC10. "That gave me a lot of hope. I was like, 'OK, maybe he is going to recover and it's not going to take as long.' But then two days after that, he went back on the ventilator and he got really worse."
After being transferred from Lodi Memorial Hospital to Mills-Peninsula Medical Center in San Mateo, Janelie said her dad's health kept declining.
"When I seen it in the paper, I was shocked," said Ron Herren, a longtime customer of the Job's. "It got to me almost like he was a family member. That's what I can tell you because he was such a good guy."
Herran met Job back when he first opened Casa Mexicana 21 years ago. Herran, like many customers, said he was a very welcoming host and always treated him like family.
"He was very friendly right from the beginning," Herran said. "He just got me to keep going back."
Amber Danielle, another customer who frequented Job's restaurant, said he once donated food for a fundraiser for her daughter after she was attacked at a dog park. But most of all she remembered his personable demeanor.
"My first experience I remember of Job was when I would bring my family in to Casa Mexicana and he was so so friendly," Danielle wrote in a Facebook message. "He gave my daughter with special needs extra attention at the table and never made us feel bad about her making a mess or being noisy."
Janelie, who also works at Casa Mexicana, said her dad always remembered his customers’ names and even remembered his regulars’ food orders.
"This person likes this, so every time they come in, my dad’s always like, 'make sure you remember,'" she recalled.
After years of hosting fundraisers at their restaurant, this time, their community raised money for the Sanchez family.
"Funerals are expensive and now even my dad’s medical bills are starting to roll in, so we're able to pay those and not have to worry about the restaurant or my mom's house bills," she said. "I really do appreciate it because it's been helping us out tremendously."
With more than $30,000 dollars raised so far on Go Fund Me, Janelie said she’s grateful to those who have checked in and offered their support. She said now her message is to help other families.
"I just want to tell everyone that just because things are starting to open up and go back to normal, we still have to take those extra steps; sanitize, wear the mask," she said. "It just takes that one little mistake for someone to make and it just affects you and everyone around you."
