Mrs. Monserrate Moncita Rivera, age 84 of Jonesboro passed away Sunday, July 23, 2023. She was preceded in death by her parents: Alberto and Felicita Villalba and was the last of 18 children. She is survived by her loving husband of 64 years; Jose Rivera, Children; Alice Thal (Geoff Lee) of Jonesboro, Margie Tarallo (Joe) of Florida, Nancy Rivera of Florida Grandchildren; Jennifer Thal, Laura Smith and Joey Oh, Great-Grandchildren; Dylan Walker, Skye Woo and Lacie Walker. A memorial service will be held at 2 p.m. Saturday, July 29, 2023 at the Chapel of Ford-Stewart Funeral Home. The family will receive friends an hour prior to the service.

"Mama" As she was called by her family and "Moncita" as she was known to many friends who loved her was an amazing woman whom will be missed enormously and has taken a huge piece of our hearts.

Mama was a ray of sunshine on a cloudy day. She had a glow about her that made her so special. Everyone that she touched left an imprint and will always be remembered.

Moncita was born to a modest couple who lived in Puerto Rico- Alberto and Felicita Villalba. She was the 18th child born into this family. The moved to New York at the age of 7, then later relocated to Miami Florida. She graduated from Miami High School and began to work at Mercy Hospital in Coral Gables in Florida.

While in New York at the age of 16 she met Jose (Joe) Rivera and the rest is history. The dated and married on July 18, 1959. Jose was enlisted in the US Army and together they relocated to Travis Airforce Base in San Francisco, California. Soon, Joe was deployed to Thule, Greenland and relocated Moncita to Florida to live with her parents' due to her being pregnant. She had 3 daughters: Alice, Margie and Nancy.

Moncita while working at Mercy Hospital (which was a Catholic Hospital owned and run by Nuns) was taught the skills needed and later was grandfathered in as what would be an LPN today. She later moved through different departments and ended up retiring from the Radiation and Oncology Department at Mercy Hospital after 30 years. She touched many lives and comforted so many souls that lost their lives due to Cancer. She herself was a Breast Cancer survivor, she could relate to what her patients were going through and gave them hope as she comforted them. She was a very spiritual woman whose beautiful smile beamed across the room.

Mama was a wonderful, caring and loving mother who nurtured and raised her daughters with the support of Joe always at her side. She had 2 granddaughters- Jennifer and Laura, and 1 grandson- Joey. She also had 3 great grandchildren- Dylan, Skye and Lacey.

She was very supportive of Jose through sometimes very difficult times in their marriage as he recovered from multiple back surgeries. She was genuine, patient and through her religious faith in God, cared for and nurtured him back to health.

Mama was nurturing, accepting, nonjudgmental, always welcoming with open arms. Filled with wisdom and instilling her religious teachings to all in her own way. She was always filled with laughter and life stories as she passed them down to her children and grandchildren and great grandchildren. She even had her own special way of calling "Papa's" name. She liked to add "ita" to the end of our names or change our names in some loving manner (Alicita, Magita, Laurita, Eskye, Joey, Yeff)

Her cooking of Puerto Rican food was superb. She was always in the kitchen cooking up something or making "Cafe con leche". You would open the front door and the aroma would hit you as you entered.

In her free time, she would always be working on some kind of craft or sewing related idea in her craft room. As she grew older, she would even be working on crafts while sitting in the living room with Joe and watching TV, She loved watching all kinds of movies with Joe every night.

Mama will never be forgotten as she touched so many lives with her warm smile and her funny stories that were passed on to 3 generations.