Hector F. Rivera

Hector F. Rivera, 85, of Lancaster, PA, recently residing in Savannah, GA, went home to be with the Lord on Thursday, March 19, 2026, after battling vascular dementia. The son of the late Felipe Nery and Ramona Rivera, he was born in Lares, PR, on November 11, 1940. Hector attended elementary school in Puerto Rico, leaving school at an early age to work in the sugar cane fields with his father. At eighteen years old, he moved to New York City, where he spent most of his time working at Mt. Sinai Hospital, earning a locksmith certification by correspondence course - a feat in itself, since he spoke limited English at the time. In The Bronx, he taught Sunday School at Iglesia Cristiana Juan 3:16, where he met Brigida “Santita” Miranda, who would become his wife on May 28, 1966. The couple had three boys, and decided to raise them in Lancaster, PA, where they set up house in 1978. Hector worked many years at Grinnell Corporation in Columbia, PA, until he retired in 2006. He was a member of The First Spanish Assembly of God church, 626 South Duke Street, in Lancaster. Throughout his life, Hector focused on providing for his family and helping his neighbors. Whether it was building bikes for his boys, replacing engines or transmissions for his friends, or shoveling out his neighbors after a blizzard, there was always a smile on his face and love in his heart. Hector joins his parents Felipe and Ramona, sisters Marina, Aurea, Ana, Magdalena, and Nilda as well as grandchildren Aydeliz, Elisabeth, and Gabriel in everlasting rest. He is survived by his wife, Brigida; his sons and their wives: Hector Rivera Jr. and Maribel Rivera, Ariel Rivera and Michelle Ayala-Rivera, and Michael Rivera and Wanny Gonzalez-Rivera; grandchildren: Adriana Marcelin and her husband, Daniel, Nathaniel Rivera, Karyna Sheaffer and her husband, Wayne, Samuel Rivera, Ezekiel Rivera, Matthias Rivera, Micaiah Rivera, and Elioenai Rivera; and his great-grandchildren: Anaiah, Noah, and Sofiah Marcelin, and Abraham Sheaffer. Hector’s family invites friends and family to join them in honoring him at The Groffs Family Funeral Home, 528 W. Orange Street, Lancaster, PA 17603, on Tuesday, March 31, 2026, with Visitation beginning at 2:00 p.m., and a Service at 3:00 p.m.