Manteca native Lucille Harris has made a difference in her nearly 80 years in Manteca using her gift of writing persuasive letters to get the attention of leaders in government and judicial circles to step up to the plate and do what’s right.

“People don’t realize the power of the pen and the power of the press,” Harris said.  “We have a litigious society and too often people give up just to get away from the situation.”

It’s her countless “grass roots” based letters that have touched raw nerves in the right places over the years turning often bad situations around 180 degrees.  It has been her intention to make upcoming generations aware that letter writing on their part can be a key to many successes in their lives.

Harris has been chosen as one of 10 women in the community to be honored by the Women’s Connection on Feb. 17 at the Women’s Leadership Conference hosted by the Manteca Convention & Visitors Bureau.  Others are Sister Ann Venita , Dorothy Indelicato, Evelyn Prouty, Rose Albano Risso, Toni Raymus, Bea Bowlsby, Linda Abeldt, Patty Reece, and Karen McLaughlin.

She noted that she has been humbled by the recognition and would rather the spotlight be placed on her love for education and the need to teach the art of letter writing.

Harris said effectively written letters need to be sent to government leaders, school board members, city council members as well as letters to the editors of papers and magazines representing the voice of the people.

Harris was born in Manteca to John and Mary Mendosa, Sr. who owned and operated Mendosa’s Men’s Wear in the 200 block of West Yosemite Avenue in the ‘30s.  She fondly remembers growing up on North Maple Avenue just north of North Street – close enough to the post office that she could use the ramp at the building to roller skate.

She remembers those “small town days” when the city had dirt paths and poppy fields in contrast to today’s sidewalks.  She and her school friends would meet for milkshakes at the Creamery on Yosemite Avenue at the railroad tracks and enjoying Saturday matinees at the El Rey Theater. 

It was at the El Rey that as a child she kept up on world news with the film showing of Movie Town News on the screen.  Lucille said she also remembers December of 1941 when the boys in the community flocked to the post office to sign up to go to war after the bombing of Pearl Harbor.  Her brother John, who would later take over his dad’s men’s store, was one of those boys.

She chuckled when she remembered her mother saying that she could see the back of her husband’s men’s shop out her kitchen window.  There were no other buildings between Yosemite and Center Street.



Harris & her husband have promoted educational programs for 50 years

While Lucille and her husband Bill have been supporting numerous educational programs in Manteca, Lathrop and Ripon, for nearly 50 years, the closest to her heart has been the Great Valley Writing Project (GVWP) that offers a summer training program for teachers serving kindergarten through eighth-grade students in the Manteca area.

With its emphasis on writing being taught in district schools, the GVWP was launched in 2005 with 12 teachers and 40 students.  Last year the greater ability to write more creatively was given to 112 teachers and nearly 240 students from Lathrop to Ripon.

Beginning in 2007 Lucille and Bill Harris have hosted a summer fund-raising dinner at their home to benefit their literacy programs.  The event held in the back-yard area of their rural ranch home has raised in excess of $10,000 each year and created more public awareness about the Great Valley Writing Project.

Lucille continues to be actively involved in countless political issues and can be found in her office most any day of her six-day week at Tuff Boy Trailers in rural Manteca.  While most women approaching their 80th birthday would be retired, she is currently taking on a number of actions that she feels have been creating burdensome regulations and government policies that would affect the South County communities.

Some 30 years ago Harris was determined to develop her ability with writing legal pleadings and serving as her own attorney when the Harrises were forced to defend themselves and their Harris ranches and highway trailer firm against what they felt were wrongful and malicious lawsuits.

Preparing for a five-month-long civil trial, she wrote hundreds of letters to public agencies, gaining critical support from the Internal Revenue Service and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms.



Helps others clear their names

Citizens Against Lawsuit Abuse (CALA) has been an additional focus for her in recent years.  Lucille has assisted defendants who were wrongly accused to find a direction to effectively present the truths against charges against them and clear their names.

Harris noted lawsuit abuse is one reason why business professionals and business owners had found their liability insurance premiums skyrocketing in the late ‘70s. That’s a jump of more than 300 percent.

Harris remembers that all the major insurance firms were asking for the same high rates.  She joined up with the medical professionals and manufacturers in the region to demand an investigation of what she felt were antitrust violations and sought tort reform in the issue.

In response to her many letters to government officials, she was asked by Congressman John Knox to serve on a legislative committee for tort reform.  The television program “60 Minutes” invited her to be interviewed for their national broadcast but she declined.  She remembers recommending another Northern California manufacturer who she felt had better experience with the media to support the cause.

Letters played another key role in the Manteca community when low-flying jet transport planes were disturbing classroom activities as they flew in the pattern preparing to land at Stockton Airport.

Harris had been asked to do what she could to alleviate the problem, so she worked with school officials and community members to compose a series of letters to protest the flight pattern.  Longtime Manteca Bulletin publisher George Murphy published several of her letters and authored several editorials of his own on the jet engine noise over the city. 

It took only a matter of weeks for the letters from the grass roots opposition to make a difference and see a change in the flights over the schools and municipal centers.

Public litter on farms and ranches throughout the rural areas surrounding Manteca was yet another of her causes that not only spurred on her letter writing but well placed advertisements in the Manteca Bulletin as well.

Farmers were being fined by county authorities for blight that was caused by citizens discarding everything from mattresses to stoves and water heaters, dishwashers, television sets, , toilet bowls and a whole range of furniture items on their land.

“If you see dumping in progress, call the Sheriff’s Dispatch at (209) 486-4400,” the ads urged the general public.  Coming out of that action, the county ceased fining the farmers and agreed to pick up the discarded items on the roadsides under the direction of the Board of Supervisors.

County Supervisor Leroy Ornelas said in January of 2008 that the illegal dumping is a big cost for taxpayers-more than $750,000 a year.  Harris’ letter writing and advertising placement was designed to create a support for stiffer penalties for littering.

Another court issue in 1997 was countered by the Harrises beginning with a full page ad in the Manteca Bulletin making the readers aware of a wrongful civil suit over their involvement in a grape misrepresentation scandal hoping to win the case in the court of public opinion.   

A series of ads drew the public support they had hoped to secure, asking  the federal government to investigate what the Harrises argued to be improprieties of state officials lying about the types of grapes sold to various wineries in the mid-‘80s  -- losing in excess of $600,000 in the eight-year civil lawsuit battle.

“Someone needs to realize what the state government can do to you just because you have deep pockets,” Harris said at the time.

Her perception and her letter writing to people in power as well as the newspaper ads eventually paid off. The couple won the case against them and received some restitution having made it very clear to the public and with the IRS and the BATF who supported them in their battle.

Daughters Marsha and Melissa are both in education and son Martin is CEO of Tuff Boy Sales. 

Harris said she doesn’t have any plans on slowing down anytime soon.