Mike’s story:

Mike Rivera was born on 08/30/41. He was one of 8 children. He was able to complete the 8th grade, but was then pulled out of school to help his father work on a farm. He always stressed to us the importance of education.

He was an amazing person with the best personality and hilarious comebacks. We laugh thinking about some of the things that came out of his mouth. He would call us and sing “Turn out the lights (the party’s over)” when our favorite football team would lose. As irritated as we were from our favorite team losing, we looked forward to his phone call. We also looked forward to his birthday calls every year.

He was so awesome with his great grandchildren. You could find him at 77 years old playing hide and seek or rolling on the ground with Leo and Owen laughing. They would be so rambunctious and so loud at times that my mom would have to ask them to keep it down. His love for his grandkids was proven when he received a phone call scam of someone pretending to be Jose, his grandson. The person on the other end said they were in jail and that they needed money to be bailed out of jail, but not to call his mom. The person said that he would need to purchase $2000.00 in Amazon gift cards in order to get him out immediately. Mike went to several different Walgreen’s to purchase the gift cards, he even had to get Mary to purchase some because he had reached the maximum amount you could purchase. This is just one example of the lengths he would go through for his grandkids. He loved to receive rocks as gifts from his grandchildren and great grandchildren. It was their thing. While we were cleaning out the house we found a lot of those rocks.

Mike had a green thumb when it came to planting fruit trees. He had grapefruit, orange, lemon, banana, fig and pecan trees and he loved sharing his bounty with neighbors, friends and family. I have a fond memory of having my niece Patricia on my shoulders grabbing oranges off the top of one of his trees. Oh what a funny sight that must have been.

The aftermath:

How do you move on after losing both of your parents to COVID-19? We lost both our matriarch and patriarch within a few weeks of each other. When you think of losing your parents, you envision holding their hands as they take their last breath. Never in our mind, did we imagine that we would not even be allowed to see either one of them until it was time to make the grueling decision of whether or not to remove them from life support, and even then it was through an ICU window. When we were allowed to see our mom, she looked so beautiful and peaceful like she was just sleeping. It was heart wrenching yet serene at the same time. She always told us that if she was hooked up to life support that she would want to be taken off. This was her wish so it was not as painful as having to make the same decision for our dad. Our dad was private about his final wishes. The stress of losing both parents so close together still haunts us, but knowing they are together dancing and singing in heaven softens the pain. We promise to “Remember the Rivera’s” and to not just let them be a statistic. We love and miss you Mom & Dad; Ma & Pa; Grandma & Grandpa!!!

After our sister Dina caught Covid and went into the hospital, we received one last message from her before she was put on a ventilator. “I like being alive,” she texted, and we never spoke with her again. One of the many horrible cruelties of Covid is that we are all denied the ability to say goodbye to our loved ones. The things we would like to say at the end go unsaid. We don’t hold their hand, or stroke their foreheads. We were lucky enough to get to see our beloved sister through the glass door to her ICU room the day she passed away.

Dina was everything to us, a funny, unique, kind person, who as her final message made abundantly clear, she did “like being alive.” Everything she did throughout her busy days back up this statement.

We were truly blessed to have Dina as long as we did. Even though our sister’s work here on Earth was done, it doesn’t seem to be fair. Her 53 years of life was cut short, even if it was lived fully. She suffered with asthma, COPD and chronic bronchitis. But she never let it get her down. Even when she had difficulty with breathing, she was full of life. Dina was a big part of our day to day always. Being 17 years older than Dawn and 11 years older than Denise, she was our big sis, and always took care of us. Even long before both of our parents passed away, it was always the 3 of us. She was like our 2nd mother. She was the same with all of our children as well.

Dina’s niece’s nephew’s in age order, Joseph, Stephen, Teagan, Jeremy and Avery, all could depend on Dina for anything. Whether it was to talk to them about the Lord, knit them hats or stuffed animals, to make them food, walk them to the bus stop, or even scrounge up some money from the bottom of her change purse to buy them something they so desperately seemed to need, just to name a few. Dina was constantly knitting and crocheting. Other than God and her family, this was her passion. She made a YouTube channel named, “Dina’s Yoyos”. She acquired 500 followers in no time. She loved chatting and showing off her creations as well as doing tutorials on how to knit and the different kinds of yarn she recently picked up from walmart or what a friend may have mailed to her, which she called “happy mail”. She had such a fun time unboxing all different yarns for her followers to see.

We all moved to Florida together in 2018 from Rockville Centre New York where we were all born and raised. We had three brothers as well from our dad’s previous two marriages that we became close with and enjoyed time with. Their names are Alan, Paul and Barry. It was a big culture shock for us moving. Dina had a great heart and always did for everybody. She may not have had much, but always made do with what she had. Her YouTube channel produced many friends and Dina also like to call them her family as well. She participated in many others YouTube channels as a guest also. Dina never learned to drive so she was stuck inside a lot here in the country of Florida at our home. There is no public transportation, no busses or trains for her to get about. Dina would take to walking around our 12-acre property. She would videotape all the farm animals and birds that she would come across. She liked to “moo” at the cows and “hee haw” at the donkey. Dina was a child at heart. This is also how she met some neighbors and church goers in the area as well. Dina used to knit preemie hats and blankets for local hospitals, collect socks for the wounded warriors project, always gave money to feed the children as well as just giving random people things she made such as her lollipop angels, shawls, or crochet towels and trivets. And the stuffed animals Dina would make … the kids just love them! When Teagan was a little girl, she had made her a dress out of a pillowcase. It was definitely one of a kind and gorgeous!

Living on 12 acres, you could imagine that we had lots of pets. Dina gave a bunch of nicknames to all of our animals. To name a few … Sweetie our chiweenie she called “Sweetie Petee,” Bella our beagle she called “Bella Wella” ( this was Dina’s favorite pet and her copilot on Dina’s Yoyo’s). She called our pit bull Red, “Redy Red Red,” and last but not least, our chihuahua Precious, she calls “The Raccoon” because of her Gray markings. Dina always used to take Dawn to Girl Scouts as a child and bring her favorite red construction paper to draw on. Dina loves Snoopy, he was her favorite. She also loved Gremlins. She really loved anything by Stephen King, especially his books. She loved to cook and make meatloaf, or her famous potatoes as well as our grandma’s macaroni salad and potato salad. She always made pizza on English muffins and her famous ramen noodle soup with cheese and hot dogs mixed in.

Dina always held craft fairs in the Spring and at Christmas time. She was always in the same cow costume for Halloween ever since I could remember. She would sit outside of our mother’s apartment building handing out candy from a huge bowl with her every Halloween. And when we would bring the kids to visit, she would let them take so much candy. Practically the whole bowls worth. She would always call food companies and get us free samples and coupons. Dina would make Jeremy his favorite crochet stuffed animal, an elephant. This elephant was continuously put in time out too! Dina’s door was always open to Stephen’s friends and his girlfriend Kayleigh, whom she also thought of as her niece. And Joseph. Dina loved to cook for Joey’s big appetite. She loved to make him his cheeseburgers in the microwave. Dina would always text us reminding us to charge our phones and to stock up on the essentials, especially if there was bad weather in the forecast.

Our favorite place to go out to eat was the buffet. Dina would always load up a heaping plate full of shrimp, and it would never fail that she would end up coughing. That would come to be an ongoing joke we would have with her for years to come. All Dina ever wanted for Christmas was yarn and sneakers. She loved her board games too. Especially collecting any and every version of monopoly that she could find. She had tons of gizmos and gadgets, a hot dog machine, popcorn machine, cotton candy machine, slow cooker, you name it, she had it or at least planned on getting it. Dina always went to Joseph, Stephen and Jeremy’s baseball and soccer games as well as Teagan and Avery’s dance recitals. In Florida she would go to the boy’s dirt bike races. She never missed a school event. She loved wearing her long skirts and floral blouses. She loved all her nieces and nephews so much. Avery, the youngest, was definitely her little side kick. Her little mini me. Dina loved that Dawn could fit 15 people or more in her selfies. Whether it be at the dinner table or all of us stuffed in an elevator somewhere on a vacation. We would go to Chinese auctions held at her church and bagel bingo held at her homemaker’s group at the rec center. Dina loved her big bird bright colorful umbrella that she bought when we were all at sesame place in Pennsylvania. She loved seeing the Macy’s day parade in New York City and at Christmas time all the tree lightings. We could just drive around for hours looking at all the beautiful houses that were decorated. She loved our family barbecues. We had one for every and any occasion you could think of. She loved the Easter egg hunt’s, birthday parties, and ringing in the New Year together. She loved Bombino’s pizza and Gino’s pasta night as well as a nice soft serve ice cream cone from Mr. Softy when we heard his truck coming.

Dina always donated blood and plasma religiously. She never missed a chance to help others. She would hand out blessing bags she filled up with toiletries also. Dina was very easy to make happy. She was always grateful for the little things in life to make her smile. Just something as simple as her taking home some napkins from McDonald’s to help us out and save money on buying paper towels. Same goes for buying food for her. I can still hear her saying, “no, just get for the kids I’ll be ok”, If we were low on funds. Dina was always about the family. Always wanted to be with the family, and always good to the family. Every time Dina met one of Teagan’s friends, she would say so happily, “Hi I’m Teagan’s Aunt”. She was always so proud of her family and so happy to show us all off. Her face would beam. Every day in New York, Dina would take Avery to school for me and pick her up. She did the same thing here in Florida. Taking her to and from the bus stop so that I can go to work. Including watching her for me until I got off. Avery spent so much time with Dina, as did all of our kids when they were young. We are all better off for knowing Dina. I don’t think she realized the impact she made on so many people’s lives. I will never forget her good heart and her funny little jokes she would tell. And that laugh of hers. She always gave off happy, positive, loving energy. Dina always wore her pink sweater and pink jacket, however her favorite color was yellow. It’s a little ironic that she passed from covid, and the covid color for awareness is yellow. We always knew that Dina was different and special. However, we are more aware of it now. We all see Dina’s worth, her uniqueness and accept her for who she was.

Dina was a woman of God. Her love for God was unimaginable to most people. Always going to church and reading The Bible. Making friends wherever she went. She would have bible study at home every Saturday with her friend Janice. Dina always taught us to pray before each and every meal. She never let us forget. And to always forgive others and not hold grudges. To treat others as if they were your own family. The world has truly lost a wonderful soul when Dina left us here on earth. Heaven gained a beautiful angel. She is now with our parents and grandparents and in the loving arms of Jesus. Life is short, and one day we will all be gone. We may not have a chance to say sorry or hug them that one last time like we always think we do. Love your family and friends and treat them good while you still have the chance.

I am ending with Dina’s favorite Bible verse. Psalms 21, verses 3 and 4.

Verse 3. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be there God.

Verse 4. He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.

In loving memory of our sister Dina Kogan: 3/7/68 – 8/18/21

Love Letter Straight from Dave’s Heart

You have made my life so real to me
I hope you know that it’s TRUE
I think that’s the way it was meant to be … I hope you know it’s true

And you know …
I will always LOVE YOU

Please cherish this heart that holds all our Love, … we can use it all of our life
I want to thank the Lord up above for letting you … be my

loving wife

… I love you …
… always …