Thealo Mae Rivera

Thealo Mae Rivera danced through the gates of heaven on November 9, 2021.
On January 8, 1947 the late James and Emma Nathaniel welcomed their 7th child, Thealo Mae Nathaniel. Thealo would grow and attend school graduating from Evander Child’s HighSchool. Thealo would meet the late Kirt Darrell Gittens and fall in love. Fred Burkett would take them to a Billy Graham crusade where they would both meet Jesus. Kirt and Thealo would marry and welcome five beautiful children Kirt Jr, Craig, Mark, Rachel and Daniel. The two would work together for 25 years, winning souls for God at 115th Street Gospel Hall Assembly, on the streets of New York as well as at Mountain View Bible Camp. They also began Gleaming Cleaning Services, cleaning homes and winning hearts. Kirt would be called home on November 9th 1990. Thealo would continue to work and testify of God’s faithfulness in her life. Thealo met and married William Rivera in November 1995. God would continue to use Thealo as a beacon for Him. In 2001 Thealo moved to Pennsylvania continuing to share Jesus at Higher Hope Church. If you were looking for Thealo she would either be at the church talking about Jesus or in the mall shopping. Thealo became “Grandma” of Higher Hope, hugging, loving, encouraging and scolding many. She would counsel hundreds of young ladies and spend time with people in recovery, encouraging them to seek Gods face in every moment. Thealo was preceded in death by her parents, Emma and James Nathaniel, four siblings, Elizabeth, Artie, Barbara and Kenneth, and her Kirt Darrell Gittens Sr. She has left her five children Kirt, Craig, Mark, Rachel, and Daniel, her husband William Rivera, and a whole host of grand children and great grandchildren, and her surviving siblings: Willie, Teddy, Wendell, Michele, and Richard,.
Friends and family may visit Sunday 9-11am at Higher Hope Church, 1 Susquehanna Valley Mall Drive, Selinsgrove, where the funeral service will follow at 11am with her son Rev. Mark Gittens officiating.
Burial will be private in Pomfret Manor Cemetery, Sunbury.
Family will provide flowers, contributions in Thealo's memory may be made to H2 Church,  p.o box 558, Sunbury 17801.
Arrangements are by the Zweier Funeral Home, 157 Chestnut St., Sunbury. 
 

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Thealo Mae Rivera, please visit our floral store.