For Enrique Melendez, service and hard work are simply a part of everyday life.

Though he retired from Atlantic Richfield Company (ARCO) to Fountain Hills 25 years ago, he’s stayed plenty busy with personal business ventures and involvement in everything from local government (councilman and vice mayor of Fountain Hills) to strengthening international relations in roles such as his current position as Honorary Consul Emeritus to El Salvador.

After a long and storied life, he’s getting ready for a second retirement of sorts, this time likely to result in a much less busy schedule.

As chance would have it, Melendez’s brother recently purchased a vineyard in Bilbao, Spain, where he and wife Pam plan to move as soon as their Fountain Hills home sells.

Melendez said he is ready to move on to the next chapter in his life, though not before thumbing through the pages of the story so far.

A storied life

Melendez is excited to welcome newcomers into his home. After a brief hello from his Bichon Frise, Jake, he might usher you into his office to excitedly share story after story.

He may note that his great grandfather, Carlos, and his grandfather, Jorge, both served as president of El Salvador. He might point out that he left the country at the age of 14 to pursue his education in the United States. He might even point out that it took him six years to become a U.S. citizen and that one of his proudest moments was when he took his oath of allegiance in 1966.

Melendez’s life in the U.S. led to attendance at Loyola High School in Los Angeles. He went on to earn a BS in Foreign Trade from the University of San Francisco before going to work in the petroleum industry. He said he started out driving a truck and, during his career, he also earned certificates in Professional Management from Stanford University and the Petroleum Educational Institute.

“Those were interesting years,” Melendez said, smiling. “I traveled a lot.”

Over the 35 years of his career with ARCO, Melendez worked in a number of fields including human resources, advertising, marketing and public affairs. His career included many highlights, such as being named the manager of public affairs during the 1984 Olympic Games hosted out of Los Angeles.

“I had 27 people working with me and it was very, very hectic,” Melendez said. “We were in charge of tickets and I was audited about once a week…Thank the lord, we didn’t have one faulty ticket given away.”

Several years before that, in 1974, Melendez was tapped to meet with Cesar Chavez on behalf of the company and, working with more than 40 industry officials, the patchwork group was able to bring an end to boycotts of the company and increase the hiring of Latinos by ARCO.

In 1982, Melendez was invited to the White House where President Ronald Reagan named him one of the top 20 Hispanics in the country, an honor he is very proud of. A year later, he was appointed to the World Trade Commission where he helped develop World Trade Offices in Tokyo, London, Mexico City and more.

When Melendez finally retired from ARCO, he began his own consulting company working with clients that include ARCO, General Dynamics, the California Wine Institute, the Sacramento Kings and more. He and Pam moved to Fountain Hills in 1991.

When he wasn’t busy in his home office, he was active around the community. Melendez has filled roles including a position on the Maricopa County Jail Committee, the Scottsdale Police Department’s Chief Advisory Council and he was a founding board member of the Scottsdale Advocacy Center. He was also instrumental in setting up a Sister Cities relationship with Ataco, El Salvador, and a community service project to the region with local students is marked as one of his proudest memories.

Retirement

In his Honorary Consul Emeritus capacity, Melendez has most recently met with the FBI, ICE, CIA and Homeland Security in regards to the caravan of migrants making its way toward the U.S. border.

“The main question I’ve been asked is why are these people coming here?” Melendez said.

It’s a massive, complicated discussion that he’s been happy to take part in, but it serves as an example of why he feels it’s time to finally step away and enjoy a much-deserved break.

“I’m 81,” Melendez said. “Once we sell the house, I’m done with diplomacy.”

Melendez explained that his younger brother bought a 13-acre vineyard in Spain, which seemed like a pretty good way to unwind.

“He said, ‘Big bro, you’re 81, you need to have fun and relax,’ so he gave me the second home on the property,” Melendez said. “The only problem is that we don’t speak Basque. That’s an issue but, we thought about it and we decided to do it…I believe I’ll spend whatever years the Lord gives me in Spain.”

Before he leaves, though, Melendez had one final piece of advice to offer the community of Fountain Hills.

“This is a great community,” Melendez said. “But I believe we should become more international.”

Melendez suggested making a concerted effort to draw a satellite campus from an institution like the Thunderbird School of Global Management or draw international businesses to the community.

“Other cities are drawing businesses from Latin America or Europe,” Melendez said. “Why can’t we get one? We’re perfect for it.”

Outside of that, he said one thing is necessary to keep the community moving in a positive direction.

“Also, let’s put the negativity aside, think positively and bring back a seven-letter word we don’t use anymore,” Melendez said. “Respect.”