Rita Rivas Obituary

In Loving Memory of Rita Rivas

Rita Rivas, of Fresno, California, passed away on September 28, 2026, at the age of 97.

Her name was Rita Rivas, but to our family, she was simply Nana.

That is what her children called her. That is what her grandchildren called her. That is how so many of us knew her, loved her, and will always remember her.

Nana was the heart of our family.

Trying to explain who she was is difficult because words like kind, loving, strong, and selfless still do not feel big enough. Nana was one of the purest people I have ever known. There was no evil in her heart. There was no selfishness in the way she loved people. She carried herself with a goodness that felt almost angelic.

Life was never easy for her.

She lost both of her parents at a young age and had to learn how to survive and take care of herself much earlier than anyone should have to. She knew hardship. She knew what it meant to go without. She knew what it meant to build a life without having everything handed to her.

But somehow, none of that made her bitter.

It made her more loving.

Nana never had the most money or all of the things people sometimes believe they need to be happy, but she would give you everything she had. If you needed something and she had it, it was yours. If she only had a little, she would still find a way to share it.

She truly was the type of woman who would give you the shirt off her back.

That was Nana.

She never drank. She never smoked. She did not live her life chasing material things. What mattered to her was her family, her faith, and making sure the people she loved were okay.

She prayed constantly for us.

She prayed for our health.

She prayed for our protection.

She prayed for our happiness.

She prayed for our success.

She wanted nothing but greatness for every person she loved.

Some people leave you money. Some people leave you possessions. Nana left us something far more valuable.

She left us her faith.

She left us her prayers.

She left us her strength.

She left us an example of what unconditional love actually looks like.

One of the things she always reminded us was that God would never leave us or forsake us.

Those words mean more to me now than they ever have before.

Because losing Nana feels like losing someone who was supposed to be here forever.

She was the person you could always count on being there. Her presence brought comfort. Her prayers made you feel protected. Her love made you feel like, no matter what was happening in your life, someone in this world was always asking God to look after you.

That someone was Nana.

When I think about her now, I think about an angel.

I think about her smile.

I think about her words.

I think about her prayers.

I think about how much she loved us.

I think about how someone who had so little at different times in her own life managed to give so much to everyone around her.

Her life taught me that being rich has very little to do with what is in your bank account.

Nana was rich in everything that actually matters.

She was rich in love.

She was rich in faith.

She was rich in family.

She was rich in kindness.

And because of the life she lived, everyone fortunate enough to have been loved by her is richer because of her.

I do not think our family will ever fully understand how many prayers she said for us when nobody was listening, how many times she worried about us when we did not know it, or how often she asked God to protect us.

I believe those prayers will continue to follow our family for generations.

Nana spent 97 years on this earth showing us how to love people without conditions.

She showed us how to give even when we did not have much.

She showed us how to remain faithful when life was difficult.

She showed us that strength does not always have to be loud.

Sometimes strength looks like a woman who has survived more than most people will ever know, yet still wakes up every day with enough love left in her heart to pray for everyone else.

That was my Nana.

And that is how I will remember her.

Nana, I do not know how to say goodbye to you because you were everything to me.

I do not know how to imagine this world without knowing that you are physically here somewhere in it.

But I know what you taught me.

I know what you believed.

I know how much you loved us.

So instead of goodbye, I am going to hold onto the same faith you spent your entire life giving to all of us.

I know you will never leave us or forsake us.

I know you will always be with us.

I will carry your prayers with me.

I will carry your strength with me.

I will carry your love with me for the rest of my life.

And I hope that the way I live my life makes you proud, because so much of the person I am came from being loved by you.

I love you, Nana.

More than these words could ever explain.

Until I see you again.