Yolanda Madeline Rivera

Yolanda M. Rivera left this world on March 25, 2016, to join her beloved husband and eldest son in heaven. She was born January 11, 1926, in El Paso, Texas, to Eduardo Gonzalez and Herminia Chacón Gonzalez. Raised in El Paso, she graduated from El Paso High School in 1944. She married Arnold Rivera in 1948 in Los Angeles, while he studied at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. After they returned to El Paso, she was employed locally, including at the El Paso Herald Post newspaper, and volunteered at R.E. Thomason General Hospital, as it was then known. She is remembered as a whimsical, witty, well-read person who was fiercely dedicated to her children and husband. Her understated manner often disguised the strength and tenacity she had to carry the family forward through life’s inevitable trials. She was notably sweet-tempered, rarely speaking ill of anyone, and humble in her accomplishments, citing only one achievement she felt worth mentioning: giving birth to five children.

She was pre-deceased by her husband, Arnold, and son, Arnold Javier. She is survived by her children: Yolanda Ortega, Elizabeth Sutton, Marguerite Rivera, and Robert Rivera; eight grandchildren; and nine great-grandchildren, her sister, Dolores, and cherished cousins. The family wishes to thank Alexandra Zuniga, Ruth Lopez, Perla Valdivia, and Graciela Guerra for their loving care of our mother, as well as Drs. Arianna Bender, Ahmad Hajj, Vipool Patel, and German Hernandez, and especially the dedicated staff of Monte Vista for their incomparable support. Visitation will be held Thursday, March 31, 2016 from 6:00 pm-7:00 pm, with a Rosary at 7:00 pm at Martin Funeral Home West. Funeral Mass will be held Friday, April 1, 2016 at 11:00 am at Queen of Peace Catholic Church, followed by an internment at Fort Bliss National Cemetery. Services entrusted to Martin Funeral Home West. www.martinfuneralhomewest.com