Jose L. Ramirez

Weslaco-Jose L. Ramirez, Jr. was born in Alton, Texas, Lam County and raised in Weslaco. In 1972, he met the love of his life, Irma Cardona at Vera’s Paladium, the local dancehall in Weslaco. They would soon marry, in May 1973.
They had their first born in 1982, Juanita “Janie” (Mario) Rangel, who now has 2 children, Sarah Kiss and Daniela Grace.
The second born would arrive in 1986, Jose “Joey” C (Joanie) Ramirez III, who would bless them with 4 children, Johnny, Jaylen, Jo-Jo, and Jaime Nicole (his pride and joy and it was no secret).
Their third born, and baby was Gloria C Ramirez, arriving in 1989.
He learned his work ethic as a migrant. His family worked summers in Michigan and Ohio with his parents, Jose and Maria L Ramirez and his brother, Jesus (+), and two sisters, Alicia de la Cruz and Consuelo Cadena, who now live in California. To continue the family tradition, he took his bride to California one summer, 1974, but he didn’t want to be so far away from his parents, so they moved back to Weslaco. He gained employment at McAllen Bottling Company, keeping track of the machines, soon after, he was promoted to repairman, which didn’t last long. Jose was a hard worker and was eventually promoted to supervisor where he would oversee many employees. He worked at McAllen Bottling for twelve years and moved to Snapple Seven-Up where he would continue his career for twenty five more years. He learned to be a jack of all trades during this career and was always anxious to learn any new tricks of the trade. He studied and trained during any given opportunity.
Jose had many hobbies. He loved fishing and hunting, just like most south Texas boys. He and his good friend, Noe, loved to fish out of South Padre in Jose’s boat. He loved to go dove hunting and deer hunting. He also loved to garden and work in the yard, just enjoying anything in the outdoors.
Jose was such a generous man known to feed a lot of homeless and hungry people. He would go out of his way to serve the workers who did road work by giving them cold water and popsicles. He never knew a stranger.
He and Irma met at a dancehall and continued this tradition throughout their 42 years of marriage. Even at parties or weddings, when the crowd wouldn’t dance, Jose and Irma would get the party started with their groove. They danced even up until Jose’s last days.
He loved to watch wrestling on Mondays and Thursdays. Anytime there was paperview wrestling, you could expect to find Jose sitting on the couch with his bride watching the action.
Jose was an early riser. He would wake up at 4 am, his other hobby was reading the paper and drinking coffee. Jose was a wealth of knowledge, if he wasn’t reading the paper, he was watching the news or listening to talk radio. He would sit in the car outside at the park, or even Stripes and listen to the radio for hours at a time. He was known to stop many “beer runs” during his early morning shift. Come 5pm, when most men were stopping for a cold beer, Jose would stop for another cup of coffee.
Jose was a great provider, even when he was ill. He made sure to secure the home with extra locks in the last weeks of his life. He even decided to complete a few honey doos, even though his wife begged him to rest, he wanted to have her prepared for his departure. He painted doors, cleaned the house and everything else you can imagine, without being asked.
Jose was a very faithful Catholic, attending St. Pius for morning mass. He was loved by many and will always be remembered.
Visitation will be held Sunday, November 29th from 1-9pm, with a rosary at 7pm. Funeral mass will be celebrated on Monday at 10am at St Pius Catholic Church in Weslaco with interment to follow at Highland Memorial Park.