Marietta super creates JROTC scholarship to honor late father
Feb. 3—The leader of Marietta City Schools said farewell to his father this week.
Superintendent Grant Rivera's father, Phil Rivera, died Tuesday morning at the age of 86.
In honor of Phil Rivera's love for teaching and his military service, the family has created a one-time scholarship that will be awarded to deserving students in the Marietta High School Air Force Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps (AFJROTC) Program from the Class of 2023.
In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to this scholarship fund at marietta.revtrak.net/mhs/mcs-scholarship-fund-in-the-name-of-philip-rivera/#/v/a-mhs-afjrotc-scholarship-philip-rivera.
Phil Rivera was born in the Bronx borough of New York City in 1936. After graduating from high school, he joined the U.S. Marine Corps. He was stationed in Japan, Greece and Liberia.
"His Marine roots run deep ... Everything in the house was spotless, everything in the house was organized, everybody in the house was on time. But I think just personally, his greatest joy was being with the grandkids."
After his military service, Phil Rivera earned a bachelor's degree in international affairs from DePaul University and a master's degree in international relations from Columbia University. He worked as a political science professor at Lincoln Land Community College in Springfield, Illinois, where he taught for 25 years.
There, he built one of the most successful Model United Nations programs in the country, Grant Rivera said, and took students on trips to foreign capitals such as Moscow and Beirut.
"And every year he would compete with Harvard and Yale and Princeton, at national and international events," the younger Rivera said. "Some of the things he was most proud of ... he took his students from this tiny community college in Springfield to go meet with Fidel Castro in Cuba, and Yasser Arafat with the (Palestine Liberation Organization), and he was the guest of the Vietnam government, the Argentinian government, the South African government, and it just goes on and on and on."
The elder Rivera's teaching inspired his son to go into education.
"I grew up in the back row of my dad's college lecture halls. ... I always hoped that I'd have a similar kind of impact," Grant Rivera said.
Phil Rivera finished his career teaching at Garrett College in McHenry, Maryland, retiring in 2012.
In retirement, he lived in an apartment off Whitlock Avenue near the Waffle House. He could often be seen in short shorts and a tank top, walking two to three miles every day, until he had his first stroke.
The superintendent would often get calls from people who had seen his dad out walking all over town.
"Until he falls down, he's fine," Rivera would tell them.
When the senior Rivera had to stop driving, he was dismayed that his garage wasn't being put to good use. So he arranged for the local Blessings in a Backpack program, which provides food to needy children, to be run out of his garage.
Phil Rivera enjoyed attending school system events and sports games, and spending time with his grandchildren. After two strokes, he had aphasia, which affected his ability to communicate.
"Where he was most comfortable was when he was with the kids. Because at the end of the day, he didn't have to talk with the kids, he just had to act silly," his son said.
The superintendent remembered his father as a gentleman and a Marine to his core.
"We will spend the rest of our lives honoring your legacy. I am so proud to be your son; we are so proud to be your family," he wrote in a tribute on Facebook.
