Juan Luis Campos Ortiz
Ramona Segura Pecina was born on April 7th, 1925 in\nTamaulipas, Mexico. She was born into a farming community 5\nyears after the conclusion of the Mexican Revolution. As a\nchild, she was known for her strong disposition. It was said that\nwhile working a crop, she was bitten by a snake, which alarmed\nthe men who stopped working in order to find it and kill it. After\na feverish search, they discovered the snake, dead; the apparent\nlooser of that encounter.\nThere was an old photo of her leaning against a well with a coy\nsmile that captured her beauty as a young woman. When asked\nwhy the writings on the back of the picture were erased and\nscratched out, she stated that the picture was taken for a boy that\nshe liked; her sweet nothings to him were permanently erased\nfrom the back of the picture because he made her mad. She kept\nthe picture.\nShe met Teodoro Ortiz at a dance and they soon married. They\nhad two children; Maria and Hugo, Hector was her step-son.\nBeing the older, wiser, and more practical of the two, Teodoro\npushed Ramona into the work force and to get an education, in\norder to ensure her earning potential for herself and her family.\nTeodoro, having worked in Pemex as a treasurer for many years,\nwas since retired, and with his help, enabled many of Ramona's\nbrothers and sisters to enter the nationalized company. After\nmoving to Mexico City, Ramona maintained her position as a\nsecretary till her retirement from Pemex; a working woman, in\nthe metropolis of Mexico City, during the 1960's.\nShe was a stern mother; often channeling her own mothers harsh\ndiscipline and forceful nature. Yet, despite her strong will and\ncharacter, she ensured that her family was taken care of and\nprovided for. She may not have been able to give a compliment,\nbut she was fully capable and able to keep the lights on. When\nher husband passed, she never remarried.\nHer loyalty to her children was fierce. Echoing the sentiments of\nher husband, her children's education was a top priority; sending\nthem to private catholic schools and supporting them as they\nsought higher education.\nAfter her oldest daughter married and had children, she left\nMexico City and moved back to Tamaulipas, to the land of her\nbirth, and to be closer to her daughter and her grandchildren.\nAlthough her relationships between her sisters and bothers were\nnot always peaceful, her love for her grandchildren was without\nquestion and felt on a much grander scale; she loved them with\nthe softness and kindness that comes only from the weathering\nof time and experience. Their needs were her needs.\nFor years she went back and forth between Tampico and\nMcAllen and spent the remaining years of her life living with\nher daughter and her husband Dr. Marvin Miller in Weslaco, TX.\nShe celebrated many birthdays, bar-b-cue's, anniversaries, and\nspecial occasions surrounded by her loved ones and bearing\nwitness to three marriages. She loved Chinese buffet and\nenjoyed many an afternoon at Lin's. She was lovingly cared for\nby Elsa Pi\u00f1on Viera, her children Hugo and Mercedes, and her\nSon-In-Law Marvin.\nThere is not a single word that could capture her true essence.\nShe was an original soul that defined her life as she lived it; her\nway. When she smiled and laughed, her joy could cut through\nthe darkest of days. And when you caught her on a bad day, she\nmade sure to let you know. She lived in the moment; and she\nlived without filters. She lived free.\nShe taught us to never give up; the value of hard work; the\nimportance of being honest and being true to yourself and the\nimportance of family. Her love was a gift that she did not give\nfreely.\nShe will be missed by us all and she will always live in our\nhearts, because we all lived inside of hers; Kept safe by her\nundying devotion to us. Her presence was undeniable and her\ninfluence was never ignored. She loved her family\nunconditionally and with a fierceness that defined her.\nRamona, Mama, Abuelita; we love you and we miss you.\nGracias a dios por tu presencia, gracias por tu am