Work and family: This Father’s Day, Jose Hernández — as always — will count his blessings

When Jose Hernández and his crew arrive to take care of your lawn and garden — mounted on mowers, wielding weedwackers and leaf-blowers — they are a landscaping SWAT team performing a choreographed series of maneuvers, each knowing his role in the operation and completing it with glances, meaningful nods, and nary a word.

They work like a single organism, but maybe that’s because they are a family. Mr. Hernández is the father of two of his crew members, Jonathan and Alex, and the uncle of a third, Francisco.

“It’s a big joy for me, keeping my family with me, working with me,” he said.

When Mr. Hernández came to the U.S. from El Salvador in the 1990s, the Salvadoran Civil War was over, and he was a six-year veteran of the conflict, serving from 1985 to 1991 in a Special Forces unit of the Salvadoran Army.

He came to the U.S. for work, at first doing construction in Greenport, and later on Shelter Island where he worked with Peder Larsen at Shelter Island Sand Gravel & Contracting, moving earth and digging holes. In 2007, he started a landscaping business, and over the years, Jonathan and Alex have joined him in Hernández Landscaping.

“When it is the hot season, you know that makes it very hard to work,” Mr. Hernández said, “But any job when you have to do it, is hard. When I worked with Peder, that was very hard work. But I love this work.” 

Mr. Hernández still has two sisters and a brother living in El Salvador, and he met his wife Maritza a few years after she came to the U.S. from Honduras, after a chance encounter with Maritza’s ‘Tia’ (aunt) Lydia at the Eagle Deli.

“Lydia worked at Eagle Deli,” he remembered, “and I made a stop one day and she said, ‘You want to come to my house? My family is coming and I’ll introduce you.” That’s how he met Maritza, and a match was made.

“Life is so many coincidences,” he said.

His youngest child, Daniel, was born and raised on Shelter Island, and was the recipient of a Teeny Award nomination for his performance in the 2023 Shelter Island School musical, “Mamma Mia!” Mr. Hernández’s daughter Yoselin Hernández lives in Riverhead and is the mother of his three grandchildren, whose pictures Mr. Hernández proudly shows off.

Jonathan joined Mr. Hernández in the business in 2009, and Alex, who attended high school at the Shelter Island School, joined him in 2018.

Alex and Jonathan said they have no problems working for their father because they each know their part. “He’s the boss,” Jonathan said, “and he’s easy to work with.”

“Everyone has a dedicated role,” Alex said. “I’m in charge of all the maintenance of the equipment. He’s in charge of time and where we need to be next.”

When things are really cranking, the Hernández’s take care of 14 to 16 properties in a single day, although very large ones may take an entire day. According to Jonathan, the only problem is time. “We have a short time to do a lot,” he added.

Alex says he’d like to go back to El Salvador to visit family, but for now he’s working too hard. “I have not had the chance yet, but I’m hoping to. It’s something we’d all like to do, go visit family and stay a couple of weeks,” he said. “We are all so used to it here, that it will feel weird.  It took us a long time to get used to the U.S., the language, the metric system, when I first went to school here, I didn’t know any English.”

They make time for lunch together, and sometimes get together for dinner as well. Alex works nights at North Ferry, so he’s less likely to be able to have dinner with the family, but they all plan to gather on Father’s Day.

“Yes, we celebrate Father’s Day,” Mr. Hernández said. “Stay home, cook something. We love grilled pork chops. My wife is in charge of the cooking. If I’m grilling, I just use a little pepper, but when she’s preparing it she does a really good sauce.” 

Mr. Hernández’s approach to living is as well-organized as his workday. “For me, first is the family, second is God and the church, and third is the job. The church is very important. I took all my kids when they were young. Now they are older and they make their own decision. But I put the seed in their heart.”

“I know I did a good job with my kids,” Mr. Hernández added. “Other kids when they reach 18 or 20, they go away from their family. Mine did not do that.”