Rosario Ramirez

On December 21, 2020, Rosario P. Ramirez passed away peacefully at home, surrounded by her loving family. On October 5, 1930, Rosario was born to Maria Soledad Rodriguez in the small mining town of San Dimas near Tayoltita, Durango, Mexico. Rosario had a sister, Angela Gonzalez, who was a year older. When Rosario was three years old, the family left San Dimas and traveled by burro to Tayoltita.

They eventually made their way to Durango, Durango, Mexico, where Soledad placed her young daughters in the care of an orphanage that was run by nuns. Thus began a routine where Soledad would travel to Texas to earn money to help support her daughters and return regularly to see them. At the orphanage, Rosario and her sister received education and learned to swim. Rosario’s love of swimming lasted a lifetime and she was still swimming in her eighties.

When Rosario was in her early teens, Soledad took her and Angela from the orphanage, and they crossed the Rio Grande River into Texas in search of work. One day, while working as a waitress, a young man, Emiliano Ramirez, invited Rosario to drink a soda with him. She accepted and they soon fell in love. As their relationship grew, Rosario and Emiliano decided to elope. One night Rosario snuck out of the house, and she and Emiliano hurried to the train station to make their getaway. But it was not to be. Soledad became aware of their nefarious plan and confronted them at the station, where she convinced them to formalize their relationship the right way. In October of 1948, Rosario and Emiliano were married in the mountains of Nuevo Leon, Mexico, where Emiliano grew up.

After moving around between Mexico and Texas, in 1956, Rosario and Emiliano began a new chapter in their life when they moved their family, which by then included four children, from Texas to Santa Paula, California. Rosario and Emiliano, with children in tow, worked harvesting walnuts at a ranch near Somis during the week. On weekends the family would return to their home in Santa Paula and celebrate with a half-gallon of neopolitan ice cream. Life was so simple, but beautiful in those days.

Eventually, the family grew to nine children. With such a large family, Rosario spent much of her time preparing meals for the children. Mounds and mounds of homemade flour tortillas and large pots of beans and rice, prepared with an abundance of love, were staples in the house in those days.

As a devout Catholic and an active member of the Our Lady of Guadalupe church, she spent many years as a Guadalupana. She attended mass faithfully every Sunday and made sure her children attended too. Rosario worked as a bus driver for the Head Start Program in Santa Paula and as a custodian at a local church. She accomplished this even while dedicating herself to caring for her son Jaime, a special needs child who required constant supervision.

Rosario loved plants and had a green thumb. No matter where she went, on vacation to Mexico, visiting her children, or walking by a neighbor’s yard, she always took seeds or cuttings that she would plant in containers and around the yard. Along with her love of plants, Rosario was also a gifted artist. She took time out of her busy days and took art classes at Santa Paula High School. Her artistic talents have penetrated deep into the fabric of our family, as many of her children and grandchildren are talented artists.

Rosario was a wonderful daughter, mother, sister, aunt, grandmother, and great grandmother. She was a beautiful, loving woman with a big smile, a radiant personality, and a great sense of humor. When Rosario would get together with her mother and sister to share their offbeat humor, their giggles and laughter would permeate the air, and you could not help but join in sharing the humor of the moment.

Rosario was preceded in death by her husband Emiliano Ramirez; her mother Maria Soledad Rodriguez; her sister Angela Gonzales; her son Victor Ramirez; her granddaughter Charela Ramirez.

Rosario is survived by her son Victor’s children - Victor, Angela, Nika, and Nathan; her son Rafael, his wife Celina and their children – Stacey and Vanessa; her son Juan and his children Juan, Francisco, Sergio, and Carlos; her Daughter Sylvia and her children – Jessica, Saul, Alex, and Sylvia; her son Robert, his wife Carmen and their children – Ivan, Robert, and Esteban; her daughter Nancy, and her children – Mario, Xochilt, and Adriana; her son Xavier and his children - Tiana, Xavier, Tika, and Jacob; her son Jaime; her son Luis, his wife Collette, and their children – Chloe and CoCo; and numerous great-grandchildren, nieces, and nephews.