Ernesto Rivera Aponte

On January 15, 2013, our beloved father was greeted in heaven by our mother Brunilda. Born in Comerio, Puerto Rico, Ernesto entered the Army after graduating from the University of Puerto Rico and became a veteran of the Korean Conflict. Returning to Puerto Rico he began a career in teaching that would take several different turns in his life. In 1963, the family relocated to Southern California where they would remain. For the next ten years Ernesto taught at the high school level in different districts in the southland and also served in the Air National Guard. This created an opportunity to teach simultaneously at the military Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA. During this period he also received a Masters Degree from the Claremont Graduate School. Looking for different opportunity Ernesto would spend the next fifteen years in the health insurance industry until his retirement. Seemingly content to slow down, he was approached by the University of La Verne and Mt San Antonio College to become and adjunct professor of language because of his qualifications. Not one to slow down, Ernesto continued until his early eighties and was a student favorite. His easy style and ability to "run with the joke" made all enjoy his company. Ernesto is greatly missed by those that survive him; daughter Nilda, her husband John, grandchildren Ashley, Jade and Chelsea Jenkins, son Ernesto and his wife Darlene Aponte, daughter Glory, her husband Mike, grandchildren Austin and Tyler Kline. In lieu of flowers donations to the American Diabetes Association will be appreciated.