Hortencia Rivera

Hortencia (Tencha) Rivera was born in Bisbee, Arizona August 13 in 1930. She spent the first few years of her childhood in this small rural town with her grandmother, Mariana, her mother Mary (Melly), and her older brother Richard. Her uncle Rosendo was nearby along with her Aunt Ann who both eventually left the area to move to Phoenix. Her mother, Melly, made a living cleaning the mine owner’s homes. Melly made a living there with her children, but as the Bisbee mine was facing the possibility of shutting down, she decided to take her children and move to the Phoenix area. Tencha had to leave the small town that she loved so much because she loved climbing the small hills surrounding the town. She remembered leaving Bisbee in a horse and wagon, looking back and seeing her grandmother waving to her. She said her grandmother really loved her and she always remembered how sad she felt leaving her grandmother. Her grandmother loved her very much.

When Tencha arrived in Phoenix, the family settled in the historic Lowell area of Phoenix. Her mother sold bean and chili burritos eventually opening, La Casita Café, one of the first Mexican restaurants in the Phoenix area. Tencha went to school and then worked in the restaurant helping her mom after school with her brother, and their life-long friend, Raymond. She had a lot of responsibility at a very young age, but even so, she often talked about her childhood very fondly. She rode her bike with her best friend, Bob Casas and learned how to swim at Central Park, doing crafts and Mexican folk dancing there through the Central Park Recreation facility. Somehow her talent for singing was recognized and she began to sing Mexican songs on the radio. She sang live on KOY radio and then began singing with local mariachi groups. She especially loved the Mexican Independence Celebrations and she was crowned the Queen of KOY radio at the age of 12. In her youth, she led many of the Mexican Independence Parade celebrations and she remembered how much she loved doing that and seeing all of the large crowds coming to celebrate.

She attended Phoenix Union High School. She loved going out with her life-long friends, Lupe, Lillian, and Irene. They went to dances together, ate together, listened to music and walked all around the Phoenix downtown area seeing movies and driving around. She loved going to the football games and high school dances with her friends. Throughout high school, Tencha continued to work in the restaurant with her mother, taking on more responsibility and helping her mom make a success of their restaurant. Tencha also dealt with much unhappiness, as this was during the time of World War II, and there were shortages of basic necessities, increase in prices, and loss of the young men in her community. So she learned at a very early age, to save and not waste, and take care of things so they would last as long as needed. She graduated from Phoenix Union High School in 1948, and continued to work in the restaurant, but also worked very briefly as a stenographer, but returned to restaurant work as she truly loved it.

She left Phoenix in 1951, and went to work and visit her friends in Los Angeles. She had been engaged in Phoenix, but decided she needed to break off the engagement and spend some time in L.A. She took at job at a cafeteria in the L.A. area, and met her soon to be husband, Carlos Rivera. After a five day courtship, she and Carlos returned to Phoenix and married. She said she liked his looks and figured she would have beautiful babies, and that he was strong and a hard worker so she could see spending the rest of her life with him. They were married for 54 years! Tencha continued to work at La Casita Café. She loved the people who came in and out of the restaurant.

She also started to raise a very large family with Carlos. Her first child, Emily, was born in 1952 followed by Anna, Susan, Carlos, Alma, Laura, and John. She had her first child at age 24, and her last child at age 48. She always said she and Carlos wanted to raise a large family together. They moved into their life-long residence on St. Charles when Tencha was pregnant with Carlos. Carlos and Tencha both ran the La Casita Lounge together. The La Casita Lounge was a popular place as it was near downtown Phoenix, and it often had live Mariachi music. Tencha continued to sing with the mariachis and both she and Carlos figured out how to run this business and raise their family together. In 1967, Carlos and Tencha built Rivera’s Restaurant, Bar, and Ballroom in the South Phoenix area. They worked together for the rest of their lives. They raised their family and contributed to the South Phoenix Community. Tencha and Carlos loved to bowl and spend time with their family. They went to their children’s baseball and football games…they went out with friends. Tencha’s life revolved around the restaurant business and her family. They sold Rivera’s Restaurant in 1991 and they retired briefly only to build a smaller restaurant, La Casita Rivera, and they worked in that restaurant with their son, Carlos. Tencha sold the restaurant after Carlos’s death in 2005. She had life-long friends throughout her life; Bobby (dcd.) and Lupe Casas, Lillian Hoyos, Stella Vega, Irene Acosta, Lola Scorse, Chapo Acuna, Margaret Arroyo, and Filiberto and Maria Rodriguez. She is survived by all her children; Emily Rivera, Anna Montalbo, Susan Bracamonte, Carlos Rivera, Alma Perez, Laura Zendejas, and John Rivera. She is survived by fourteen grandchildren ranging in age from 31 to 12 years of age. She is survived by 4 great-grandchildren ages, 13, 5, 2, and 2. She is survived by her cousins, Carmen Hafner, Linda King, and Eileen Young. She loved her life-long friends and her cousins very much. She often said how special all of them were to her.

Tencha was a kind and loving wife, mother, and grandmother. She always had a positive and welcoming smile for anyone. She loved the restaurant business, and although it was very hard work, she loved all of the people who came in and out of her life through the restaurant doors. She loved listening to people’s stories, and she loved singing with the mariachis and celebrating her Mexican heritage. She passed the pride of culture onto her children and grandchildren. Tencha always had a smile that could light a dark night….she focused on living in the present…and she always had an uplifting comment to make to others. She had a great sense of humor, and her laughter had a distinguishing sound that made others laugh around her. She always remembered how hard it was to live during the Great Depression and World War II, and for that reason, she had a soft heart for anyone who was “down and out”. She often fed the hungry at the back door of her restaurant and when she knew a family was in need, she would send food home with them. She never turned anyone down if they needed to eat. She could sit and listen to someone who was sad and talk with them…and she had a way of making them feel better before they left the restaurant. She really loved her grandchildren…she teased them and had special names for them. Even when she was very ill, she maintained her sense of humor that would make her children laugh despite the fact that she was in pain. Tencha, the mother, grandmother, and friend, will be missed by all….and she was loved much like the Velveteen Rabbit….who left this world loved and worn in all the right places….she was REAL……

Excerpt from The Velveteen Rabbit by Margery Williams:

"Real isn't how you are made," said the Skin Horse. "It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but Really loves you, then you become Real." "Does it hurt?" asked the Rabbit.

"Sometimes," said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. "When you are Real you don't mind being hurt."

"Does it happen all at once, like being wound up," he asked, "or bit by bit?""It doesn't happen all at once," said the Skin Horse. "You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get all loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand."

Donations may be made to Hospice of the Valley in lieu of flowers.