Hello Mr. R. I just thought I would say one last goodbye on ur on-line guest book. I thought I'd just let you know that You did a GREAT job with your Kids and by your wife.  Truly, you are Man to look up to. Fondest Regards-Mark   PS-Thanks for the Push-

Posted 09/13/2012

07/25/2012

Dear Mrs. Ramirez, Carolyn and Gary Ramirez & Jim Bartimus,

I am so sorry to send my condolence to you guys so late, and even more sorry to have to send them at all. But I just found out that Mr. Ramirez passed away last October. My wife & I went to my 10yr High School reunion, but I skipped the 20th & 30th and somehow ended up on this page while surfing the web about McLane.

But just to send my condolences just does seem to be enough. I wish I had some kind of “Magic Word or words” to say to make everyone feel better, but I don't. Perhaps God wants us to feel the loneliness (even if you are in a room full of people) or on your first Birthday that you didn't here from your Dad. Or the first Fathers day without him, and suddenly you start to go into a panic because you haven't called him yet. Then all of a sudden it hits you like a punch in the gut when you realize, no more phone calls, ever. That's why I believe God allows the pain after the loss of a loved one. So we really understand what he had when a loved one is alive and now all we have are our precious  memories, however funny or comforting those memory are. God is allowing each one of us to grieve in, not in our own way, but in the way God knows “we need too”. Now more than ever we really understand what Mr. Ramirez really meant to each of us, and to each of us in our own way. We have some people come into our lives for a life time, and others for only a time in our life. 

My time with Mr. Ramirez (unfortunately) was not for a lifetime. He was in my life for a very important and special time in my life. He was the kind of man that changed me in positive ways and still effects me to this day. So since I just found out about his passing and was not able to show my respects or attend any events celebrating his life in person, I will kinda of do a “Catholic Wake” type of paying my respects. At least half of my family are Catholics and many have had wakes. Not a “going away” party, but an “until we meet again” party. So although I am close to and respect the Catholic faith, please forgive me in advance if I kind of mess this up a little bit because I am not Catholic. But I am a (new) “Bible based, Born Again Christian” 

So I want you to know what Mr. Ramirez meant to me, what he did for me and share some moments in his life that perhaps you probably did not know about. Please keep in mind, this IS my short version. Also please excuse the typos, it must be really dusting in my office because every few seconds to minutes, my eyes tear up and I must wipe the dust away.

Whenever Carol's name comes up, I refer to her as “My High School Sweet Heart” even though she was only my girlfriend for one school year. But, it was our senior year at McLane and well….she was my “first” real girlfriend. No other girls I met before her were important enough to catch my eye.  Carol & I met and worked together at Me N' Eds Pizza and oh….not ONLY did her long hair look beautiful, it smelled wonderful. Well, one night I took her home from work on my motorcycle and I ended up getting her home around 2am-ish. Mr. Ramirez was a Trucker and with those BIG Trucker arms, he wanted to burst through the front door, grab me by my neck & pop my head off like a grape. Fortunately for me, somehow Mrs. Ramirez held him back. So I lived another day. But I had yet to meet him. PS, Thank-you Mrs. Ramirez for saving my life.

Well, I finally put my shyness aside and asked Carol if she wanted to fly to San Francisco with me for the day. Just to do some sight seeing and hang out in “My” favorite city in the world, then fly back that night. She said her Dad was a Trucker, had big arms and would probably kill me, but it sounded like fun so she would ask both of her parents. Being this brilliant teenager that I was, I thought since the most beautiful girl I had ever seen would go to SF with me, that I should stop being so shy and afraid, and finally ask her out on a real date that didn't involve airplanes. She wasn't just gorgeous; she was funny, like me she also hated disco and had so much more going on. Hey Carol, I even remember your cat Suzy:> !!!

So I show up at the Ramirez house to pick up carol for out first date, even though it was really the second one I had asked her out on. I met Mr. & Mrs. Ramirez and they we so wonderful and such a lovely couple. But was Carol ready on time…NO!! So as Carol is still getting ready upstairs, Mr. Ramirez has me in the front room of the house, you know, the one, it had the piano, dead bolted front door and no way out! They were having some kind of party because I remember Carol's Brother Gary was down from SF and kept “peeking” into the room where Mr. Ramirez wanted to “talk” with me. I thought maybe Gary just wanted to see “if” Mr. Ramirez had approved of me or had killed me yet with those “Trucker Arms”.

 We talked for a while and he actually agreed that I could fly “his baby” to SF for the day. I was in shock! #1. He didn't kill me & #2. He approved of me. We were leaving for our date & Mr. Ramirez took me aside and told me that I needed to have his daughter back by midnight. Which I did. As we started dating more & more Carol would try to get me to let her call her Dad (she truly was Daddy's little girl, and looking back, it was very cute) so she could ask him if we could stay out later than midnight. I didn't want the nights to ever end and I did give in here & there. But If Mr. Ramirez told me directly, “Have my Daughter home by Midnight”, then I did. Both out of respect for him, AND because I was afraid of him. We spent many many nights after our dates watching TV at her folk's house, and usually after midnight. Remember SNL didn't suck back then.

Now a little more time had passed and “I now had the most beautiful girl at McLane as “MY” girlfriend”, that's you Carol! And I could now call her parents by their first names. His was “Mr.” and hers was Mrs”. 

My Dad left and then passed away when I was around 5 years old. I never got to tell Mr. Ramirez or the Ramirez family how much of a Father figure he was to me and how he taught me so much about being a man. The things a Father or Dad would teach a son. Even small things like how I loved BBQ hamburgers. But I would go nuts trying to BBQ them because they ALWAYS fell through the grill into the fire. He taught me to use aluminum foil when BBQing. Put down the foil and then the burgers. Poke a few holes in the foil if you want a little bit of the juice to drip down to get a little smoke and if you REALLY doubled up on the foil, you could grill your Veggies without BBQing them. And also how to grill corn and many, many other foods. It may seem like a small thing, but when I finally moved out for the first time and being a young single guy, you pretty much only eat 3 things. Pizza, Chinese food and you BBQ at least3-5 times a week!!! That was a BIG thing for me. I just remember those little moments together as so special. When you grow up without a Father and somebody elses Dad takes time to share guy stuff with you, that's a pretty cool thing. And that was Mr. Ramirez, a really really cool guy. 

He taught me how a husband is supposed to treat his wife. Mr. & Mrs. Ramirez would have a “Date Night” it seemed like at least once a week. WAY before the term was even used like it is now (But I do love the movie “Date Night”). He would be so excited to go to dinner or out dancing with his wife, but when Mrs. Ramirez walked into the room after she got completely dressed with make up, jewelry and her vintage dress shoes that Carol would show me and model them for me, he'd stop talking, smile and stare at Mrs. Ramirez like it was the first time he had ever seen her, and I really do think he'd fall in Love with her all over again. 

He taught me how to be a Dad. He was always attending whatever Carol was doing, drama, swimming, you name it. He was always there for her. No questions asked. Remember guys, when a girl brings you home to meet her Dad, it is really a test to see how close of a Man “you” are compared to her Dad. Congratulations Mr. Bremer, it appears you passed the Mr. Ramirez test and I hope you treat Carol like a princess. 

And for Gary, if the phone ever rang, and way BEFORE caller ID, Mr. Ramirez would wake up from being sound asleep and then he'd keep asking Mrs. Ramirez over & over again until she nodded her head “yes” or shook her head no if it was Gary. He was so proud of you Gary and loved you so very much. If anybody mentioned SF, ATM's, USC or anything closely related to you, he would jump right into a conversation and brag about you. And I mean brag. In his eyes you could have best son any Dad ever had. I saw in the picture section that you guys and your family did some traveling together. It must have been a blast.

And to you Mrs. Ramirez. You were always so polite, kind and such a beautiful and wonderful person to be around.  You have always reminded me of “Jackie O” or Jacquelyn Kennedy with your grace and style. Unfortunately, I have not seen or spoken to Carol since we have become adults (older), but I am sure that you groomed her into a beautiful classy woman and a loving and caring Mother and wife. Plus, you really picked out a wonderful husband who worshipped the ground you walked on and protected his family with love and good old fashioned values. Plus….don‘t forget about those HUGE Trucker Arms!

Carol, I couldn't have had a more perfect girl to spend my senior year with, plus a little before and a little after High School in College before I joined the Marines. But what a senior year it was!!!!  The Winter Formal, Sadie Hawkins Dance, The Prom, Graduation Night, Grad Night at Disney Land, making me learn to dance and allowing me the chance to really get to know you and your family. Plus so much more. Bu the way I am really proud of you for sticking it out and Graduating from Fresno State. I knew you could and would do it. I hope you were able to get into the job field that you wanted. In High school, you really wanted to work with children that just need a little help, a little kindness from a stranger. I saw the Picture of your Beautiful son Spencer sitting on your Dad's lap. I know that smile. That's Mr. Ramirez's “proud” smile. I bet Spencer was “Papas Boy” and your dad really loved having him around. My little boys are older now. JR #1 is 28yrs and married & JR #2 is 25 and born on my Birthday, plus now he is engaged to be married. She reminds me of you in a lot of ways. And yes, they are ALL good things!! 

 
Well it's time to close up this letter. So in closing; Carol and I never had a big fight that broke us up. Or anything that could make me dislike her or say anything but positive things about her. Carol, I ONLY had two women in my life that I would fall in love with. First you, then my wife. I would compare ALL of the girls I was dating to you. None of them passed “The Carol Test”. With my wife it was different. I knew within hours I was gonna make her my girlfriend. After another couple of hours of finishing each other sentences, I knew I had finally met a woman I could fall in love with. And now we are closing in on 30 years of marriage. I thought my wife & I were doing pretty good until I saw that Mr. & Mrs. Ramirez made it to 60 years. God Bless the both of you and what a testimony for your entire family. I wish I would have stopped by at least once to tell you guys how important you have been to me. And you probably didn't even know it. I drove past your house off First Street many times just to stop by to say hi, and see how everyone was doing, but I always chickened out. Defiantly, my loss.

Jim Bartimus we have not met yet, but if Mr. Ramirez loved you and considered you a son, then I hope I will get to meet you one day. I'm not sure where anyone lives anymore. Hopefully I'll run into you and Gary sometime, somewhere.

And Carol please remember, although as a 17 year old teenager, it was too embarrassing to say at the time to tell you that you “my first” real girlfriend, I should have. That probably would have explained a lot for you and why you said I was so jealous of other guys (I was). I'm sorry about that. I really am. And Carol, I hope your life is turning out great for you. I do not know if your husband went to school with us or not, but I hope he knows how lucky he is to have ended up with you. You were “The Catch” of the class of 1980. I also hope that your husband looks at you like your Dad looked at your Mother. Like he just realized how lucky and Blessed he was, and that he also falls in love with you again and again, over and over for the first time.

I know this is a rough and tough time for you. I lost my Mother 2 years ago and it still hurts. But that is how I know my love for her was real. I love just hearing random stories about her, like “this” rambling one. I learned all kinds of things about my Mom. Both of her Grandfathers fought in the Civil War! That's cool because before the Civil War was not personal and was just something from a dusty old school book. But to her, it was part of her life. And I found out the one from the South was a Baptist Preacher who was so against slavery that he also fought for the North! Then, as if that was not enough, the guy takes his family, moves back to the South in Tennessee and Pastors a Church there. So a little story here, a photo there, it helps. And yes, I still loose it sometimes, but I am still finding out about her, which also includes me and “My Future Generations” and that does help me out.

To ALL of the Ramirez Family, I have really missed each one of you. It may have seemed like it was only a little bit of space and time that I got to spend with you guys, but ALL of you have impacted me in such a wonderful and positive way. And to Mr. Ramirez, Thank-You for not killing me, for teaching me Dad things and for trusting me with your (baby) only Daughter. I am a better person and a stronger man for knowing you and your family. God Bless You, and until we meet again, 

Yours truly,
Mark C. Williams  

mcw93613@yahoo.com 


P.S.
I think I am finally going give in and set up a facebook account. I hope you'll be able to contact me, Friend me or Like me (whatever it will be called next week) and let know how you guys are doing. But don't count on a twitter account. I am really not the kind of a guy who would “tweet” in public…..much love-mark  

P.S. to the P.S.

I am now on facebook, somewhere………..


Dear Mrs. Ramirez, Carolyn, Gary & Jim,

I am so sorry to have to send my condolences to regarding the passing of Mr. Ramirez through the internet. I was on the internet to see if there were any pictures from Carol & mines McLane's 30th Class reunion (that I skipped) when somehow I came upon this Very Sad news. 

Thru the years I have driven past your guy's house off First Street meaning to stop by, say hi and to just let all of you know how much I still love each and everyone of you guys and how important ALL of you were to me in our senior year. Mr.Ramirez taught me so much on how to be an Honest Hardworking Man, a Dad, a Loving Husband and so much more. I wrote out my â€œREALâ€ personal condolence letter in MS-Word for typo's and it ended up being about 5 pages. So I do not feel right posting it here. I have been carrying it in my pocket for about a month and a half now thinking for some reason I was going to run into one of you. I haven't, so I'll send this off for now. I even set up a Facebook account just in case I could send my letter that way. Perhaps I'll finally get brave enough and drive across town to your folk's house when we were in high school, and hand deliver my letter. 

In it, I have something for each of you regarding Mr. Ramirez. He was such an awesome influence on me (my father died when I was around 5yrs) and he mainly taught me how or what a Man is by example. For however brief a time it was (to brief for me), I learned so much from this Man. At 17 I thought I was a Man, but I was just a boy. So without evening knowing it, Mr. Ramirez was a Father figure to me. So my private, but open letter to your entire family shares a few stories about Mr. Ramirez, myself & the whole Ramirez family. 

I hope all of you just take it one day at a time. My Mother passed away 2 years ago so I know how alone you can end up feeling. 

I just wanted you to know I miss you, I love you and I am a better person for having Mr. Ramirez in my life and for knowing him. He was a REAL man and I am so sorry for your loss.

Lots of Love,

Mark C. Williams,

Somewhere on/in Facebook

mcw93613@yahoo.com

May God bless you and your family in this time of sorrow.

Gary, Carol, and dear Tillie, My heart broke for you when I heard of the loss of this truly good, sweet-hearted man. He remains with me as a glowing reminder of life well lived, love deeply given, family and friendships cherished and enriched. We are better people for having known him.
My thoughts and prayers are with you.

My condolences to you, Tillie and the Ramirez Family.  Kris and I know Rudy is with our Lord. I have many found memories of the both of you and family time. May God see you through this trying time.   Love Junior Rosales

Dear Ramirez Family,

We send our heart felt condolences to you Tillie and your family at this most difficult time.  

This is Mary Rosales Solis.  Gumesindo & Helen Rosales' middle daughter.  I was fortunate to see you and Rudy a couple of years back in Sanger at a Flores funeral.  You both looked so good and had hardly changed from the last time I had seen you some 30 + years before.  

My dad considered Rudy a very dear friend.  I am so sorry I missed Rudy's funeral as I did not find out from my Aunt Gloria Sigala until yesterday.

May God Bless you and may you find comfort in all the wonderful memories you have of Rudy.

Mary Solis

I remember Rudy like a brother growing up with our family. He was a man of many interests and could talk about many subjects.  During one of the last conversations I had with him, I mentioned I was bicycling for exercise and he replied "Bicycling is good exercise" which is what my doctor tells me. He loved talking about Fresno State sports particularly football and women's softball. We extend our sincere condolences to the entire family.

Although the moments were brief with my uncle, I remember laughter and a man with much charisma.

Carol and family, sending thoughts and prayers your way. With peace,

Dear Ramirez family   Our sincere condolences to your family,  I am Kay(Hansen) Pucheu, LeRoy and Donnalee's daughter, and Harry McKenzie's granddaughter.  (One of the twins)  I do remember Rudy fondly, and will try to make it to the visitation tonight.  He was such a kind, friendly gentleman. I live in Tranquillity where we farm cotton, etc. 
Our thoughts and prayers are with you.
Sincerely, 
Kay Pucheu

Dear Gary and Family - Heartfelt thoughts and prayers during this difficult time.  I know that your special memories of your dad will be comforting to you all. How wonderful that Rudy got to see his children and grandson grow up, celebrate 60 years of marriage with your lovely mother, and live in a beautiful home where he enjoyed many special family celebrations.

Warmly,

OBITUARIO

Rudolph R. Ramirez

17 octubre, 1922 – 22 octubre, 2011

Whitehurst Sullivan Burns & Blair Funeral Home

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