Mary Hope Rivas

Mary Hope Rivas was born to Clara and John Leos on June 13, 1927 in Santa Barbara, CA. The family moved to a ranch in Kerman, CA, where Mom spent most of her life until she left at the age of 13 to live with her aunts in Fresno.

Mom was the 2nd oldest of 8 children, 5 boys and 3 girls. Gone before her besides her parents are her brothers Richard and Gilbert Leos, her older sister Dorothy, her adopted brother Leonard Wingert and her only son, James Joseph Rivas. She is survived by her husband of 64 years Joe P. Rivas, her daughter AnnaMarie Rivas, her granddaughter Morgan Elena Schiebelhut, two brothers John and Larry Leos, and her sister Barbara Chavez.

Mom was very creative, resourceful and imaginative. She once shared a story about taking clothes to the pig pen and dressing one of the pigs as one would dress a doll and playing with it. When I was in 4th grade we had a project of building a model of Noah's Ark. Like many parents, she took the project on herself and transformed an ordinary shoe box into what looked like a wooden ark. It was wrapped in lined brown paper and decked with animals including one or two with their heads poking through windows of the upper cabin. It was great.

Mom was a gifted sewer and made many of my clothes up until I entered high school. Back in the day, she and my grandmother would buy flour that came in large sacks. The sacks were designed with a pretty print and Mom would sew a blouse for me out of that flour sack.

She could be obstinate and preferred doing things her way. She was sentimental. When I as going through her things looking for family photos I found a stack of letters written to her from Dad. They were dated from May 1, 1944 (shortly after Dad finished serving in the army during WWII) to August 13, 1947. Now that last date caught my eye as I know they were married on December 14, 1947 and I showed up five years later (1952) on August 13th.

Mom loved to laugh, had a sense of humor and enjoyed teasing. As typical of the early stages of Alzheimer's, she began repeating her questions and Morgan and I would patiently repeat our answers. One particular time she got to repeating herself more often than usual to the point where Dad had to leave the room to keep his impatience in check. After he left, she looked at us and winked. Realizing her game I asked, "Mom, why would you do that to Dad?" and her answer was, "Because it's fun."

Mom enjoyed dancing and she and Dad went to many dances and were often on the dance floor at wedding receptions and parties.

She also enjoyed shopping, especially for clothes and jewelry. She left behind clothes that still had the tags on them. She was a frequent customer at DeVon's Jewelers to where they would greet her by name when she entered their store. She even added a second set of ear piercings so she could wear more earrings.

She had a "green thumb" and enjoyed growing things. There were (and still are) many indoor houseplants plus the gardens she enjoyed in our yards. All my knowledge of plants I got from Mom.

I enjoyed our 1-on-1 times that we had playing cards or a board game on the dining table. I remember one Friday when we were alone at the house. Dad had gone to the car races as usual and James either went with Dad or was spending the night at a friend's. It was just Mom and me. The Sunnyside Drive-in was fairly new and less than a mile away so she suggested we take in a movie. I don't even remember what we saw but it was a special time just spending it with Mom. During my senior year in high school I would sometimes call during the end of my lunch break just to see how she was and just chat until the warning bell rang signaling me I had 5 minutes to get to my next class.

Mom loved animals. I grew up with parakeets, tropical fish and dogs. I discovered from reading the letters Dad had sent her that she had a pet duck named Jolly Blond. But I especially remember the dogs. I grew up with Shorty (I was probably about 4), Sparky (the really spoiled one who would growl at you if you asked him if he had fleas), Checkers, and later he was accompanied by Sugar. With Checkers being a black and white Border Collie and Sugar being a white German Shepherd, I always thought of salt and pepper when I saw them together. When Morgan was 10, we got her a German Shepherd-Chow mix that we rescued from the shelter. As a result of my divorce, we had to sell our house and I moved into an apartment that did not allow pets and her dad moved into a mobile home park that didn't allow large dogs. My parents took Terra in with open arms and, just like the previous dogs, spoiled her rotten. Blessed is the dog who found their way into my parents home because Mom made sure they enjoyed life to the fullest. Mom even carried bird seed in her purse to feed the wild birds when she was at a park or public area frequented by birds. They also have a bird feeder in the side yard and in the backyard of the house.

She enjoyed playing the slot machines and she and Dad made trips to Laughlin about 3-4 times a year.

But most of all, I remember how Mom was generous, supportive and loving. I invite you to join us in celebrating and honoring her memory by adding what you remember about Mom to this link.