Obituary: Rivera, 40, flew Marine planes around world before ALS struck

Web Posted: 01/23/2007 09:12 PM CST

Nancy Martinez
Express-News

Jimmy Rene Rivera, who as a boy stood on a T-ball field and showed more interest in the Air Force planes taking off and landing than the game, died Saturday.
Rivera, who grew up on the West Side with dreams of flying airplanes, died of ALS, or amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. He was 40.


A graduate of Jefferson High School and the University of Texas at Austin, he was a Marine pilot who also did a two-year stint at United Airlines before joining the Marines again.

"He should have written a book about his life," said his wife, Tammy. "He was such an amazing person. He was an ambitious person and a character on top of that, just a total comedian."

She said Rivera worked on secret missions with the Marines, flying to Israel, Australia and Africa, among other places.

The couple married in 2000 on Pensacola Beach in Florida, where they met two years earlier. He was a flight instructor and had two children from a previous marriage, as did Tammy.

Jimmy Rene Rivera
Born: April 16, 1966, in San Antonio
Died: Jan. 20, 2007, in San Antonio

Military: U.S. Marine Corps

Survived by: His wife, Tammy Rivera; children Natasha, Casey, Victoria, India and Sydney; his mother, Mary Alice Rivera; sisters Ernestine Campos and husband George, and Patricia Rivera; brothers Jesse Rivera and Jacob Rivera; two granddaughters; and many nieces and nephews.

Services: Today at 9:30 a.m. at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Little Flower at 824 Kentucky Ave. Committal services will follow at Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery with full military honors.



ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, affects nerve cells in the brain and spinal cord, according to an ALS association Web site. There is no cure.

It was in Africa in December 2004 that Rivera first told his wife about his symptoms. He fell on New Year's Eve and didn't understand why, she said. Then he began to lose his balance, and his legs began feeling heavy.

Rivera was medically retired from the Marines on Dec. 31, 2005, having attained the rank of lieutenant colonel.

"The disease was so aggressive. Some people will have it for 10, 15 years, but he wasn't even diagnosed for two years," Tammy Rivera said. "It takes everything. All of your muscles fail."

She said it wasn't long before her husband, who once ran 6 miles a day, was completely paralyzed.

With a computer from his wheelchair, he tried to keep in touch with military friends across the world and worked out a financial plan for his family for after his death.

"It's the worst disease you can have because the mind stays normal but you are trapped in a paralyzed body. But he never complained," Tammy Rivera said.

He told his wife the most beautiful place he flew over was the Kakadu National Park in Australia. He named his 4-year-old daughter Sydney and asked that his ashes rest at the park.

Rivera's friend Albert Urrabazo, 40, played T-ball with him when they were 6. He remembers Rivera staring at the planes and that his friend was always motivated to meet his goals, even encouraging him to pursue his own.

"At a very young age, he knew he wanted to be a pilot, and he knew the first step was education. I wasn't college-bound and he convinced me to take a look at going to college," said Urrabazo, now an electrical engineer.

"He went with me to take a four-hour entrance test. He didn't even need to take it, but he did it to encourage me."



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nmartinez@express-news.net