126 Years of Family Serving Family—Paul and Lisa Monda, Waco Distribution Center
One in a series honoring the Exchange’s 126 years of family serving family
Paul Monda III, an eCommerce distribution manager, and his wife Lisa, an occupational health nurse, both work at the Exchange Distribution Center in Waco, where they first met.
“We were friends for many years and we enjoyed talking about family and our animals together,” said Lisa. “But he was not getting the hint that I was interested in dating him and was not sending a clear signal that he was interested either. So one day I asked him to come and talk to me because I had to give him something. I wrote my phone number down and told him if he was interested in going out sometime to give me a call. Two years later we were married and had a precious baby girl on the way.”
Before they started their own family together, they both had a family tradition of service in the military and/or at the Exchange that goes back for decades.
“I tried to join the military, but I wasn’t accepted because they were downsizing, so I did the next best thing I could think of to do my part and joined AAFES instead,” said Paul.
Paul Monda III’s paternal grandparents, Willene and Paul Monda Sr. Paul Sr., a World War II Veteran, worked at the Fort Leonard Wood PX.
His paternal grandfather did both. After serving in World War II, Paul Monda Sr. started working at the Exchange at Fort Leonard Wood, Mo., became the concessions and services supervisor and retired after 23 years. Paul Monda III’s father also worked there.
“My father spent a few summers working for AAFES during his high school and college years, and after completing his degree he was hired on full time,” said Paul. “He worked at multiple facilities over his tenure but spent most of it at the Dallas headquarters, where he retired after 32 years.”
His maternal grandmother retired from the Exchange after 25 years, and his mother also worked there. Other relatives also served in the military. Two uncles retired from the Army and his maternal grandfather and another uncle served in the Air Force.
Although Paul didn’t serve in the military, he did get a taste of a combat zone experience with the Exchange.
“When I deployed to Camp Rustamiyah, Iraq (previously called Camp Cuervo and Camp Muleskinner), in 2007, our store was hit by a mortar round. One person was injured and had to be evacuated,” said Paul. “Although our manager was leaving that day to redeploy, we had to bring everyone in to clean up, and we opened the next morning on time.”
On Lisa’s side of the family, both of her grandfathers retired from the Air Force and five uncles and several cousins also served. Another uncle retired from the Marines.
Two of Lisa’s children also carried on the family tradition of serving those who serve. Matthew Wilson currently works at the Express at Waco and James Wilson worked at the Waco Distribution Center for a few years.
Working at the Exchange is personally and professionally satisfying for Paul and Lisa.
“‘Family Serving Family’ is difficult to express in words,” said Paul. “It’s many things—personally it’s honoring a multi-generation legacy of service to the military community. Professionally, it’s serving those team members that grind out the day-to-day activities to accomplish the mission, assisting them to provide the best service they can, all while helping expand their opportunities to grow personally and professionally as others have done for me.”
Lisa enjoys doing two things while working at the Exchange that she wanted to do when she was growing up.
“As a child I always wanted to be a nurse and a teacher, and here I do both,” said Lisa. “I appreciate when I advise associates to look out for one another, and they take it to heart and ‘tell on’ each other. They will come by and say, ‘Miss Lisa so-and-so doesn’t look good today, can you check on them?’ And I go out and see how they are doing, and sometimes find out they did need a little assistance in some way.
“It brings me a great sense of purpose to be able to be there for people when they are in need, no matter how small. And I work for and with people who genuinely care for one another—you can feel it in the air here.”
They both agree that opportunities are great at the Exchange.
“With a supportive leader encouraging you (and I’ve served with more than one over my career), and a desire to learn and grow as an individual, you can achieve more than you would think possible,” said Paul.
