Petra Vasquez Ramirez

On Wednesday, September 09, 2020, Petra V. Ramirez, was called to rest by Our Heavenly Father at the age of 93. She was lovingly known as “Mima Petra.” She was preceded in death by her 7 siblings and her husband Epifanio G. Ramirez ⴕ and two sons. Her children are Juan Francisco ⴕ, Manuel, Guillermo, Maria Inez, Guadalupe, Sotero, Jesus ⴕ, Refugia, Epifanio Jr., Raymundo, Lorenzo and Yolanda.

Mima Petra was born in Villa Ocampo, Durango, Mexico on May 29th, but her birth was officially registered on May 31, 1927. She was raised by her grandparents and was tough as nails. Her grandparents lived on a ranch where they grew fields of tobacco. She was the one designated to roll tobacco for their cigars. She shared many stories of when she was growing up, and she would say that as she rolled the tobacco for her grandparents she whispered, “un tobacco para tì, y dos tobaccos para mi…” As a result of this, she acquired a taste for smoking. Eventually this led to one collapsed lung, but not even the Corona Virus could keep her down, and with only one lung! She was quite the story teller. She shared many other stories with us as we visited her. It was always easier for us to come to her, than for her to visit any of us. She told us, “De Chiquita, Yo montaba caballo con un rifle en el hombro,” as she herded goats on the land near the mountains of Durango. And, when she got into trouble, she climbed the trees on their land to avoid getting hit by her grandfather’s switch. She was very agile. She was also very artistic and creative too, as she learned how to knit “tejidos” for decoration and embroidered kitchen cloths that she used for around the house.

There, in Durango, Mexico, she met the love of her life, Mipa Epifanio. She told us that she was attracted to him because “era bien trompudo.” One day as he was napping, while her family visited his family, she was bold enough to steal a kiss from him. He opened his eyes and tried to reach for her, but she was too quick and he only got a handle of her “listòn” which was her hair ribbon. She said she thought that kissing him had caused her to lose her honor and virtue. She was very old fashioned. She thought that such an act had caused her to be pregnant!

She married Mipa on August 26, 1945. She was 19 years old and he was 21 years old. They left Durango on that day, by train and arrived in Texas the following day. She traveled in her white wedding dress the length of their trip to the U.S. Over the course of the first 17 years of their marriage they had 12 children. As they raised their children, they lived between Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. Later, as the kids grew older, they all migrated during the summers to work between Oregon, Idaho and Arizona for seasonal work. Mima had a firm hand as she raised her 12 kids. That was a quality everyone knew and admired about her. Her strong character was proof that she was in good health. If she was scolding her kids and on them for misbehaving, everyone knew that Mima was doing well. Her sharp mind and tongue allowed no one to influence her old fashioned beliefs or opinions. If you were in trouble, she made it very clear you were in trouble, she was very direct. That proved to be true to her last months and days in life. Yet, with her strong character, she also loved hard, especially with her relationship and prayers to God. She was not greedy with her prayers. She always gave every one of us a blessing and prayed over us as we left her home. Family was important to her. She never worked outside of the home, but it was truly a labor of hard love!

This year, she would have celebrated 75 years of marriage with Mipa. She leaves behind a legacy of 12 children, 38 grandchildren, 82 great-grandchildren and 31 great-great-grandchildren. As she is no longer with us on earth, she is still in our memories and in our hearts, with each and every one of you here. She left us with the beautiful memories that we were blessed and fortunate to witness with her. She is now singing along with Mipa in heaven, as he sings and plays the accordion for her…