Ponciano Ramirez

Ponciano Artemio Ramirez II was born in Nuevo Laredo, Mexico on November 18, 1922 to Ponciano Ramirez I and Canuta Yzaguirre Mendez. Even though born in Mexico and spent his early school years there, Ponce’s family has resided on the Texas side since the 1700’s---their long-time presence in South Texas region predates the existence of the state of Texas and the USA. The Ramirez family ran a taxi service and a general store in Realitos, Texas and for a time owned businesses in Nuevo Laredo, too. Ponce graduated from Benavides High School, where as a trombonist he was among the leaders of the marching band and performed with a dance band on weekends led by his high school band instructor.

Ponce enlisted in the in the US Army (Army Air Corp) during World War II and became a highly skilled technician in radar systems, and worked as part of the crews that built and installed them in fighter planes. Coming from South Texas where Spanish was the primary language, he used the opportunity he had during his wartime experience to become fully bilingual---excelling at English to the degree that post-war he landed a job at a brand new company called Offshore Navigation, Inc. (ONI) For the next four decades, he participated in the growth and evolution of that enterprise which supported the oil exploration industry by positioning offshore expeditions using the most sophisticated radio positioning technology of the time---all pre-GPS. Due to his military security clearance, Ponce participated in the early validation tests of inertial positioning systems used on the Polaris class nuclear-powered submarines for the US Navy.

During his last decade at ONI, Ponce started a company, Core Tech Drilling, based in San Marcos, Texas with his son Sam. Core Tech Drilling provides geotechnical drilling services to the construction industries of Texas. He co-ran the company for 30years as its President, helping facilitate the growth and successof the business which continues today.

During his initial years at ONI he met Nora Gutierrez of San Antonio, a recent graduate (and valedictorian) of Our Lady of the Lake College and educator. They fell deeply in love, married in 1952, and spent most of their 33 years together in southeast Houston raising five children: Danny, Victor, Sam, Mary Jo (Josephine), and Jane. Their children richly benefited from their parents’ love of travel and culture: long drives to Mexico City, Acapulco, Guadalajara, British Columbia; living during summer vacation in places like Chincoteague, Virginia and Aberdeen, Washington (while Ponce built base stations for the oil navigation expeditions off those coasts); and regular trips to San Antonio, Corpus Christi, and South Texas to celebrate and strengthen family connections. On their own, Ponce and Nora traveled to Spain twice, relishing the history, cuisine and language.

Ponce deeply grieved losing Nora to cancer in 1987. He retired from ONI in 1990 after more than 40 years and finished supporting his youngest daughter Jane through her college years.

Then, in his early 70’s Ponce began another chapter in his life. He met Mary Gullo, fell happily in love again, married, and moved to Stafford, TX where Mary lived. They spent 25 years together, traveling all over Europe, socializing with their friends, and enjoying and loving one another’s children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

Ponce possessed an awesome aptitude for building and fixing almost anything. He loved telling and listening to stories, especially the kind that ended with a perfect punchline. He was most fond of scotch on the rocks, a very dry gin martini (“just wave the vermouth over it”), and an occasional beer or two. He was infamous for corny jokes, “taking a short cut” when driving (meaning he was lost and didn’t want to admit it), collecting speeding tickets, and installing a racing muffler on the family car much to the immense chagrin of his pre-teen/teen offspring. He took a bath every single night (although they were really showers.) He had a great ear for jazz as well as for a range of other superb musicians and performers---Louis Armstrong, Count Basie, Ella Fitzgerald, Trios Los Panchos, Segovia, Louis Chevalier, Peggy Lee, and Herb Alpert, to name a few. He had an astoundingly high threshold for physical pain coupled with a distaste for hospitals and a relentless frugality, which resulted in his passing kidney stones on three different occasions on his own.

He preferred fun-loving, honest people with a solid sense of humility. He will be deeply missed.

He is preceded in death by his parents, wife Nora/mother of his children, sister Bertha Barrera, brother David Ramirez, and son Danny.

He is survived by his wife Mary, children Victor (Heidi Ramirez), Sam (Amy Ramirez), Mary Josephine (Betto Arcos) and Jane (Mark Diebold); grandchildren Angie Ramirez (Brian Allmand), Jared Ramirez (Sonia Herrera), Samantha Armbruster (Bonner Armbruster), Emily Ramirez (Chase Maness), AgustínArcos, and Nora Diebold; and great grandchildren Edie, Albert, Lucy Allmand and Dorothy Armbruster.