Longshore workers raised their cranes into the “boomed up” position April 14 in a silent tribute to deceased longshoreman Carlos Caballero Rivera, while nearby in Wilmington his friends and family gathered for his memorial service.

Carlos Rivera had been fatally injured around 11 a.m. April 4 after being hit by forklift carrying rolls of sheet metal at California United Terminal in Long Beach.

 “I remember my brother Carlos and I came into the union together,” Local 13 President Joe “Jo Jo” Cortez said at the service. “When Carlos and I came into this union, no one wanted to be a longshoreman. This is tough work. Carlos showed himself to be a person of great character. He was a devoted husband, father, and a family man.”

Rivera was born in Caguas, Puerto Rico on November 8, 1934. He moved to Wilmington in 1953, and there met and married his wife Juana Zambrana. He worked in the lumber business for a while and started working with the ILWU in 1965, registering as an ‘A” man a few years later. All his friends say he loved working on the waterfront.

Off the job, friends and family knew him as a compassionate man who devoted much time to family and friends.

“My son Danny is here today and he is a casual longshoreman,” Los Angeles City Councilwoman Janice Hahn said at the service. “Danny told me that he recently spent a day working with Carlos. They were swingmen together at TraPac and he told me that the first thing he noticed were Carlos’ hands. He just knew that those were hands that spent a lifetime working. Carlos said that the reason he worked for his whole life was he wanted to take care of his family.”

Carlos always advised his fellow workers to “save, save, save” their money, to be prepared for hard times. For that advice they sometimes called him “tycoon.”

He is survived by his wife Mrs. Juana M. Rivera, children Daniel, Carlos Jr., Roy, Virginia, and grandkids and great-grandkids

Carlos Rivera, who had more than 40 years experience on the docks, becomes the second longshoreman killed in Long Beach-Los Angeles since January 2005.

                – Tom Price