Ramon Rameriz continued on page 15
Arden: Gosh, that’s amazing. Are you still in touch with any brothers and sisters?
Arden: Did all the children go to Nicasio school?
Ramon: [laughs] Oh...yes! well, you know, couple of weeks ago, my three sisters and one niece went to Mexico...same house! and I go too! Before, I did not have a passport. My sisters are in Salinas and Los Baños...about three hours from here...
Ramon: Everyone went to Nicasio school [the kids later went to schools in Pt. Reyes Station and Tomales]. [His children with his first wife were Joel, Isaias, Anna, Edgardo, Ruthie, Ramon and Ramiro] Ramon and coworker Nicho at Lafranchi Ranch Ramon: I asked Willy: what can I do? I can’t do what I used to do ...He said this is your house - you cut the grass for me, and you can stay here all the time you want to.
Arden: So, let’s see...what did you do for fun, when you were a child?
Ramon: Ahh, I love .bullfighters...I love the bullfights!... everybody remembers me, because I buy clothes cheap... Esmeralda: He’d buy clothing, large underwear, panties, bras, and give them away as a joke, but also normal-size clothing...give them away [at the bullfights]. Ramon: And the young people ...the music, the mariachi, and I go there, I never drink in my life, but they drink and they say Ole! and I throw away things [toss them to the crowd]...and everybody is happy! And everybody remembered me...was a lotta fun...on August 15 many people go to the church in my town [to pray for the bulls]. Now, it is stopped [they no longer kill the bulls], You know, time flies.
Elaine: You were custodian at Lagunitas School...
Ramon: Kathy Drady [emotional] -- I love Kathy -- she set me up with a job at Lagunitas school, and I started working there. Everyone knows this was the best time in my life, because I gave my heart to the kids, and the kids to me.
Arden: They loved you there, Ramon.
Ramon: Then I worked for Randy 22 years...driving the tractor [for hayrides]... The kids [who knew Ramon from the school and elsewhere and who were brought to the Pumpkin Patch by their fathers and mothers] would see me and say hey, Ramon!!
Arden: Talk about your friends, your amigos.
Ramon: One teacher in the school, if you did something wrong there, in the class, he collects money, 25 cents. “come on, 25 cents.” And he collect the money and he buys one big picture [of the Virgin Mary], and at the graduation he put the names up of all 42 students next to the picture and he said every month I’ll ... go to your house...and pray.
Arden: So many people from Lagunitas school talked about you so fondly.
Elaine: When I was doing student teaching at Lagunitas, you came in with a baby fawn and the little kids all gathered around; it was so sweet! Ramon: One day Kathy and another teacher, they brought 25 elementary [exchange] students from Paris on the bus to see the ranch. I see one cow trying to have a baby, and I say, hey kids, see, this cow? In the back the baby is coming out!Arden: I’m sure the kids remembered this! Ramon: So I put the gloves on and I said, I need one boy and one girl to help me! The kids started pulling, I put my hand in, the calf was coming. The kids were happy! Esmeralda: Willy had this old, slow, calm horse, so the kids could have a ride, Ramon lassoed the horse to take him into its pen. The kids said: you need to come to France with us and do a show lassoing the horse. My mother said “I don’t think so, that horse is just OLD!”
Elaine: What reason did you come to live in California?
Ramon: I came because I wanted to see my father in Chicago where I never went in my life. This is the reason...for my brothers and sisters, because my father died. Elaine: You stayed in America from the Chicago time? And did you come alone to California? Ramon: I had a good job in Mexico, I was not supposed to be coming...my friend said I could make more money and I go crazy and I am coming. My friend was in Texas. I came to California after Texas. Esmeralda: He would analyze ground for its composition [for road construction] and he had a card from the governor [of Jalisco] that let him travel interstate legally.
Arden: That’s great! Any more stories?
Elaine: When did you come to California?
Ramon: One day I came to school at Thanksgiving with a turkey. The turkey laid an egg right on the carpet. Another time, for Cinco de Mayo, I bought ice cream, gave it to everybody, the best time in my life.
Ramon: I came to Los Angeles in 1966 and worked at the Santa Monica hospi- tal. I made some money and then I married Anna Maria in Mexico, and I came with her and Carmen, her sister, to Sonoma. and my brother-in-law, who died long ago, worked with the cows. He found a job for me with Willy [Lafranchi] in 1968. The first time I put the machine with the cows [a milking machine], I broke my nose. Then I brought my wife with me [to the Lafranchi ranch]. I met my wife at church in Mexico. I was 24 yrs old when I was working for Willy.
Arden: People said you kept the place very clean and neat.
Elaine: How did you meet Laura [his second wife]?
Ramon: In Mexico, it was a birthday, many people. I would put on the music and had a cake; there was about 100 people there. I met Laura in the plaza. I gave her flowers- I say, do you want to go to a restaurant? She says yesss! For five years I go back every six months. Finally, my wife and I went north to Nicasio in the pickup. Esmeralda: Laura paid for a Mariachi band for their wedding... Laura had six miscar- riages...two kids survived, but one died after birth. My birth was a Milagro [miracle]!
Arden: Did you know what a fine man Willy was when you met him?
Ramon: Yeah. He was like my father. He was the best man I meet in my life [emo- tional]. Willy! Oh man. If he had one tortilla to eat he would give half to you. This is the kind of man. He was my boss, and I was a good worker. I had to raise the cows, and I worked lotta years and I good at it. Later, after my accident, I changed.
Arden: What was it like to leave the Lafranchi ranch?
Arden: Describe your duties.
Ramon: We thought of moving to Los Baños, but one day someone speak to Randy, and he said, Ramon, you may stay in the house until your daughter fin- ishes school. I prayed in church, and it happened. [When we had to leave] I went to Point Reyes Real Estate, but he wanted $4000 a month and $6000 deposit.
Ramon: I worked lotta years, do same thing, OK.
Arden: How old were you when you had the accident in Mexico?
Ramon: Hard to know, 37 years ago. 12 midnight, the guy got killed and one girl. I had all my seven kids and wife too in the car; I was in a coma for one month. I didn’t recognize anyone for a month. Esmeralda: What they told him was it was a head-on. The driver was drunk. [Will Lafranchi flew Ramon back to the U.S. to be in a hospital here.]
Esmeralda: It was only one bedroom, very small.
Ramon: Was not easy; a hard time to find a house.
Esmeralda: He had no credit, We kept looking;it was hard to find one. Then we found a beautiful home in Santa Rosa, he paid the deposit and started renting it ... Arden: Looking back over your life are there any special memories you want to tell us about? [Esmeralda translates the question] Ramon: Well, the people in Nicasio...[emotional] I was happy there. everybody says hi... Everybody give me amor...I miss Willy too much, but I liked to see the baseball and Willy there, and all these little things, I’m happy! I was a good work- er, that’s why Willy liked me.
Arden: Were your kids all born in Nicasio?
Ramon: Isaias was born in Mexico; all the rest here. After the accident, I changed, and I didn’t remember.
Arden: In what way?
Ramon: I don’t know, but I changed.
Esmeralda: They were pressuring him to get back up as he was the man of the house. He had a hard time remembering anyone and it was expected that he con- tinue to work.
Arden: That’s not the only reason!
SGV Community Center Stone Soup Page 19
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