Obituary of Juanita Ramirez

Juanita Ramirez, 84, of Milliken passed away Sunday, March 27, 2022, at home.  She was born January 28, 1938, in Gregory, Texas to Felipe and Elena (Reyes) Ezqueda.  Juanita grew up in Mexico where she attended schools and received her teaching certificate. In August of 1956 she married Isabel Ramirez in Valle Hermoso, Tamaulipas, Mexico.  In 1968 the couple moved to Mission, Texas.  They were migrant workers and traveled all over the United States with Colorado as their last stop before traveling back to Texas.   In 1974 they decided to make Colorado their permanent home and in 1975 they built their family home in Milliken where she lived happily until her last days. She loved to cook and spoil the neighborhood kids with cookies and the rest of us with her delicious tamales.   In 1974/75 they started working at Longmont Foods together and she retired after 22 years. She was a very talented seamstress and early on in life she would earn a living making dresses for bridesmaids and quinciañeras.  She was a member of Fuente De Vida, formerly Aposento Alto and was very active with the church and the Women’s Ministries.  Yearly she would organize her church’s Thanksgiving and Christmas turkey meal giveaway to needy families in her community.  She truly had a servant’s heart and her greatest joy was helping others. Upon retiring the couple loved to go to garage sales and purchase household items, appliance and clothes.  They converted their garage to a permanent garage sale and were a great community resource.  They frequently gave things away to people relocating from Mexico that had nothing but the clothes on their back.

Juanita is survived by her husband Isabel of Milliken; her children, Irene Gilman and husband Alonzo of Berthoud, Esmeralda Ray and husband Robert of Greeley, Teresa Garcia and husband Richard of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and Abel Ramirez, Jr. and wife Kathi of Milliken; her grandchildren, Tito Gilman, Dusty Gilman, Jessica Ray, Rebecca Bergstrom, Richard Garcia, Jr., Anthony Garcia, Joshua Garcia, Rebekah Garcia, and Mateos Ramirez; 12 great-grandchildren; and her siblings;  Maria Reyes of Texas, Pedro Padilla of Texas, Josefina Molina of Illinois,  Marcos Ezqueda of Mexico, Angelina Bennett of Texas, Elisa Torrez of Mexico and Felipe Ezqueda of Mexico.   She was preceded in death by her parents, her infant twins Juan and Isabel, her sisters Maria Reyes and Elisa Torrez, and her brother Pedro Padilla.

A visitation will be held Friday, April 1, 2022 from 5:00pm until 7:00pm at Fuente De Vida in Milliken.  Life Celebration will be at 12:00pm Saturday, April 2, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church of Milliken.  Interment at Sunset Memorial Gardens. A reception will follow at Adamson Life Celebration Home.

Friends may send condolences to the family at adamsoncares.com. In lieu of flowers you may make a memorial contribution to Fuente De Vida, Milliken, Colorado.