Gina Howeth Ramey

Gina was a wife, mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and the heart of a family that grew much larger than she probably ever imagined.

She was preceded in death her parents, Joyce and Bobby Howeth. Her husband, Melvin Ramey; her son, Lee Ramey; Valarie Chadwick losses she carried with her for the remainder of her life.

She is survived by her daughter, Angela Marshall, and son-in-law, Derrick; her son, Chuck Ramey, and daughter-in-law, Cassie; and her daughter, Britany Benson, and son-in-law, Brandon. Brothers; Bobby & Lance Howeth, Sister Joni Delgado & many nieces and nephews

Gina was the proud grandmother of Demaceo Marshall, Kendrick Marshall, Jordan Marshall, Aderius Marshall, Devin Ramey, Sky Ramey, Logan Ramey, Ryder Ramey, Skylar Ramey, Xander Ramey, Ainsley Ramey, Harley Benson, Dani Benson, Lee Ramey, Braxton Ramey, and Olivia Benson. She was also blessed with six great-grandchildren: Silas, Savanah, Keelan, Rayla, Reign and Ranger.

But simply listing Gina’s family doesn’t begin to explain what family meant to her. Those weren’t just names to Gina. They were her people. Family was at the center of Gina’s life. After losing her son, Lee, she helped raise his four children and made sure they always knew they were surrounded by family and love. It was simply who Gina was. When her family needed her, she showed up.

Gina was creative, resourceful, strong-willed, caring, and completely herself. She had an incredible ability to make something out of whatever she had and sometimes quite literally something out of nothing. Her family will forever remember her red chicken soup. It wasn’t a treasured recipe passed down through generations. Gina simply made it up one night when there was almost nothing in the house to cook. Somehow, what began as a meal made out of necessity became something her family would continue to make and crave for years afterward.

In a way, that red chicken soup tells you quite a bit about Gina. She could look at “not enough” and somehow turn it into enough. That lesson extended far beyond her kitchen. Gina didn’t need thousands of dollars to make a day special. She taught her family that making memories wasn’t about how much money you could spend. You used what you had. You got creative. You celebrated anyway. She made ordinary things matter.

She also believed there was a time and place for everything, and she taught her children the importance of taking pride in themselves. Even when you didn’t have much, you still had the ability to get yourself dressed, straighten yourself up, hold your head high, and take pride in yourself. These were the kinds of lessons Gina taught without anyone realizing at the time that they were being taught:

Make something out of what you have. Make the day special anyway. Take pride in yourself. Know when it’s time to straighten yourself up and keep going. And above everything else, take care of your people. Her family will remember the big moments, but they’ll miss the ordinary ones just as much the conversations, the laughter, the things she made, the familiar routines, the stories that only make sense to the people who were there, and simply knowing that Mom or Grandma was there.

During the final months of Gina’s life, the love she had spent a lifetime giving came full circle. As cancer took away more and more of her independence, she remained at home surrounded by the family she loved. They cared for her, sat beside her, comforted her, laughed with her, worried over her, and walked beside her through some incredibly difficult days.

And when the end came, Gina was not alone. She was surrounded by the very thing she had spent her life creating a family.

There is no way to fit 67 years of a person’s life into an obituary. There is no sentence big enough to explain what a mother means to her children, what a grandmother means to her grandchildren, or what happens to a family when someone who has always simply been there suddenly isn’t. Her absence will be found in a thousand ordinary places in family gatherings and holidays, in old stories and recipes, in something someone will instinctively want to call and tell her, and in those unexpected moments when something reminds them of her and, for just a second, they forget that she isn’t there to tell.

But Gina’s story does not end on September 13. It continues through Angela, Chuck, and Britany. It continues through her sixteen grandchildren and six great-grandchildren. It continues through the traditions she created, the things she taught them, the stories that will be told about her, and the pieces of Gina that each of them will carry forward.

Her family was her greatest legacy. She loved them. She fought for them. She showed up for them. And when it was her turn to need them, they showed up for her.

Gina Lee Ramey was deeply loved in this life, and she will be deeply missed for the rest of theirs.