sudoNovember 25, 2020.
Truman Middle School, Albuquerque, NM
Special Education
A local middle school employee died from COVID-19 late last month and now, the community is rallying together to support her 13-year-old daughter. Victoria Rivas was only 52 years old when she passed after being hospitalized for one day with the coronavirus. Friends and family say they hope others will take the virus more seriously.
“It hurts really bad because she the best person anybody could know,” said Loura Vigil, Rivas’ friend, and former co-worker. “Seeing that Vicky is gone has opened my eyes. and everyone needs to open their eyes because it is real.”
Rivas leaves behind her 13-year-old daughter Jade, along with her adult children, Jasmine, Robert, and Eduardo. Since Jade’s father passed away when she was a baby, her siblings are coming together to help raise her.
Now, the community is hoping to support them in that effort. They’ve made a GoFundMe to ease the family’s financial burden. “She would do anything for her family, for Jade,” said Felipa Coon, Rivas’ friend, and former co-worker. “I’m glad that not only her personal family but her family at Truman has stepped up to help Jade.”
Rivas’s friends and family say she would do anything for her loved ones and her four children, as well as her grandchildren, were her world. She worked as a special education assistant at Truman Middle School in Albuquerque for nearly two decades and planned to retire in just a couple of years.
Her friends and sister say she was working remotely at the time and tested positive just a few days before she passed. They hope others will think of their own family and friends — and stay home.