- January 24, 2025
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Retired U.S. Army Maj. Fany Rivera can sum up her feelings about Independence Day with one word: Liberty.
"That’s what it means — that we as military and service members, we fight for liberty for all U.S. citizens," Rivera said.
The Ormond Beach resident doesn't take that for granted. Having joined the military after 9/11, following in the footsteps of her husband, retired U.S. Army Maj. Jean Rivera, she knew that she wanted to serve.
And serve, she did.
“The main thing that inspired me was that I wanted to serve," Fany Rivera sad. "I saw that the world was going to change drastically, the way we fought our enemy, and I wanted to serve. I wanted to be a part of that legacy.”
Over her 20-year career, she climbed the Army's enlisted ranks until she was selected to become an officer, and once she completed schooling for that, worked her way up the officer ranks to become a major. She was deployed to Afghanistan for two tours, and she and her husband were stationed in places all over the world: Germany, South Korea, Kuwait, and finally in June 2019, Ormond Beach, after Fany Rivera was assigned to Embry Riddle Aeronautical University as an ROTC executive officer.
It would be her final assignment, as she made the decision to retire this year, effective Oct. 31, though her last day in uniform took place in June.
Once Fany Rivera had made her decision, her husband wanted to do something nice to commemorate her retirement. He contacted the City Commissioner in his zone, Susan Persis, and all it took was one phone call to have his wife recognized by the city at the commission's June 1 meeting.
Mayor Bill Partington read a proclamation in her honor, and presented her with a key to the city.
“My son gives her the key almost every day and says, ‘Mami, you made it,’” Jean Rivera said.
It's an action that Fany Rivera says brings tears to her eyes every time he does it.
“It makes me feel proud because it makes me feel that, even though I retired, I’m still being acknowledged by the city, and to a city that we just moved," she said. "The Army putting us here in Ormond Beach was a blessing to our family.”
Fany Rivera decided to retire to dedicate herself to her family. Her husband and two small children needed her, she said. While serving his last tour in South Korea, Jean Rivera lost his eyesight due to a parasite, and is considered legally blind.
He couldn't be prouder of what his wife has been able to accomplish. As an ordained minister, faith has been the glue that holds their family together, and what motivated him during his illness, Jean Rivera said.
"We put God in the center of our relationship, the center of our house and of everything we do, and we have been blessed with every step that we take," he said.
Come October, the Riveras will celebrate 21 years of marriage.
One thing the Riveras say some in the U.S. may take for granted is their freedom. Fany Rivera was born in Honduras and moved to the U.S. at age 12; Jean Rivera was born in Venezuela and moved to the U.S. at 17. Three things they value are democracy, liberty and constitutional rights, Fany Rivera said.
"Regardless of which [political] party is in control, we still have that freedom, and we don’t have it like in those third-world countries like Honduras and right now, Venezuela," she said.
For Jean Rivera, the upcoming Fourth of July means everything. During his 23 years in the Army, he spent four years in South Korea, a country that has celebrated several different Independence Days in its lifetime. The U.S. only has one.
“That means we have preserved our independence since inception, and it’s the brave men and women of the armed forces who are keeping it that way going on... That great community is what I believe our founding fathers tried to establish from the beginning of the country," Jean Rivera said.
