Oralia Rico Covarrubias was born in La Féria, Texas on August 17, 1954. Her mother is Ana María Rico Lopez, who lives in Mexico City. Her father is Amador Ramirez Covarrubias, whereabouts unknown. Oralia and her mother returned to Mexico, along with her older brother Pedro. As she grew up in the Mexico City home of her stepfather, Fidel Ramirez Velasquez, Oralia was often asked to care for her younger siblings, Fidel, Bernardo, Carolina, Vicente, Ana María, María de La Paz, and Cristóbal while their parents worked to support the family of eleven. Oralia became an excellent babysitter, able to read a child’s mind before they got themselves into trouble.
When Oralia was 33, and her siblings were grown up, her friend Ana showed her a bus ticket to Tijuana. “Take me with you!” Oralia begged, and she did, hiking over the border mountains on a dark night until they got to San Diego.
Oralia worked cleaning houses and babysitting for people like Shawn and Dave Skillin. Shawn is a lawyer, and when she learned that Oralia was born in Texas, she quickly sent for Oralia’s birth certificate, and she was a citizen in no time.
Oralia’s favorite story happened when she was babysitting 4 year-old Chase Skillin, who refused to put his toys away before going outside. “You’re FIRED!” Yelled the toddler. Oralia never missed a beat, she gathered her things and started heading for the door! “Where are you going?” asked Chase.
“ I’m going home. I can’t stay here if I’m fired!” Said Oralia seriously.
“OK your not fired” said Chase, and he began picking up his toys. Chase is now a doctor in New York, and I’m sure he still blushes every time he hears Oralia’s favorite story.
I met Oralia about this time, in 1995, when she hailed my taxi and stole my heart with her vivacity and cheerfulness. I knew she was a woman who was never sad, so she could stand me. We were married a year later, on her birthday, and enjoyed almost 26 years of marital bliss.
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