Tributes

Dr. Felipe Ramirez Rubio August 17, 1951 - February 17, 2024 “…Porque para mí el vivir es Cristo, y el morir es ganancia…” Dr. Ramírez converted to the Christian faith as a young man. It is impossible to adequately summarize the noteworthy memories and important highlights of this great man so that’s not the effort herein, but to simply endeavor to mention a few of the memories of Dr. Felipe Ramirez Rubio that make us smile when reflecting upon our loss. Wherever to begin? His life consisted of making memories with his family as often as time permitted and working tirelessly to provide for them virtually all the rest of his time on earth… Profession: (M.D.) Anesthesiologist He was married to Criselda Valencia for over 50 years at the time of his death. Together, they had one son (Felipe) and 3 daughters (Iris, Krys & Liz), but between all of his children, grandchildren, siblings, nephews, nieces, and extended family — he had a really HUGE family and he was close to them all. There are simply too many to name here but he loved them all. He loved serving others. He was an extremely hardworking man… not given to vices such as drugs or alcohol but he was definitely a workaholic. He loved his work and many of his patients loved him and he was known to have the touch of an angel in his work as a doctor. In many people’s careers there are at least a couple of occasions wherein a double shift at work may be a highlight to remember and recall for years but in Dr. Felipe Ramirez’ experience — this was ALWAYS the rule & never the exception. He became a full-fledged medical doctor in 1978 and he retired in 2012. In his tenure at one hospital he served as Director while working full time in 3 hospitals as an anesthesiologist and on-call in various others. He worked like that for many years that spanned most of his career as a medical doctor… it was INSANE! Where he got the energy to do SO MUCH is a mystery that will not die with him. Another indisputable observation about dad was how he loved to drive and travel — dad was always welcome everywhere he went but he couldn’t stay in one place for very long. After retiring as a doctor it would appear that he found his true calling (late in life) — as a truck driver (of sorts) wherein he drove all over the USA helping build his son’s business. He seemed to enjoy this almost as much as his countless hours spent in the operating rooms and at the hospital bedsides of his tens of thousands of patients throughout his career. For as often as we can remember — when any of us would ask him to try & get a little sleep his reply was always the same: “a dormir a la tumba” (I’ll sleep in my grave). The fact is, though, that he just never wanted to miss anything and tried to be with his family as long as he possibly could. While so many strive to be away from their families he did try very hard to spend as much time as humanly possible with his family — and he had a BIG family to make his rounds to! When we were kids — he would very often come home from a surgery to eat & then lay on a cushion on the floor in the middle of everyone’s activities and fall asleep in mere seconds. His sleep would very often last for only a few seconds, though, before his “radio-beep” would awaken him to rush off to another surgery. His weekends usually allowed him a little more freedom, however & many times — dad’s weekends would be mostly on the road just to arrive for a short family gathering clear across the country & then rush back to work. His home was usually full of people from all over Mexico as well as from the United States. While we were growing up, Dad (and mom) took in countless people to our home to help along life’s way — several of whom took abode in our home and lived with us for years… including both extended family as well as perfect strangers who didn’t even speak our language. Our home was very often as much an orphanage or foster home as ‘our own home’ throughout most of our childhood. Dad just loved people & he was truly loved by many, many people. He loved helping people. He loved visiting with people. He loved teaching and explaining things and he was very good at it! He loved being an active member of the church… he enjoyed serving as a deacon and a Gideon & hosted many cottage prayer meetings/Bible studies in our home. He supported various missions and missionaries in their ministries both far and near. Felipe Ramirez Rubio was born to Josefina Rubio & Israel Ramirez in Santa Maria del Oro, Durango but grew up in Lerdo, Durango (Mexico). He grew up in a very large and extremely poor family. When barely more than a toddler, he began shining shoes in the plazas of Lerdo for any money he could earn and he never stopped working until the day he was admitted into the Methodist Hospital for a routine surgery that went horribly wrong — resulting in his death 5 days later. (His “lucky” number was five). When dad was just a boy in the sixth grade of elementary school he won a prize for being the best student and was taken to meet the president of Mexico. He was inspired by the opportunity and had political interests as a young man but used the motivation garnered from many experiences early in his life to climb from the utter depths of poverty all alone without doing anything illegal or immoral but by being humble, eager, smart & persistent. Through an enormous amount of hard work and dedication he finished his long school career as not only a medical doctor but with the esteemed specialty in anesthesiology. As an anesthesiologist he excelled and served as director of the largest hospital in the region and he prevented so many from suffering that he deserves a place in the Guinness Book of World Records. He has very, very likely administered anesthesia to more patients than anyone else in the history of the world. In the last few years of his life he discovered the world of cruise vacations and he took mom on as many as he could afford the money and time to enjoy so as to get her out & make life easy for her. They would often invite others to join them and frequently rallied huge family gatherings on cruises. It seemed one of his favorite things in his last few years. For as long as we can remember, dad always loved mornings best. He enjoyed rising early (if he ever even went to bed)… he loved to read the Bible very early in the morning. He loved to go walk in the park in the early morning hours with his kids and as good as he was at so many different things — few things could be compared to his breakfasts… he simply was THE BEST EVER at cooking breakfast — period!!! His breakfasts were like a Christmas layout… everything was perfect and if you could think of it — he had it on the table! He loved serving his family in the little things, as well… for example — he took great pleasure in little things like ironing clothes for the kids. Somehow dad was always FULL of energy! He loved to try new foods but among his favorites were Church’s chicken, menudo & seafood. He loved fun with the family… He played pool at his house with friends and family. Chess was his favorite game to play but he also enjoyed swimming and basketball with the grandkids — not to mention foot-RACING the grandkids. He loved being the “tooth-ferry” for his grandkids. Dad was slow to anger. He had a seemingly immeasurable amount of patience in raising his family. He never yelled or fought with mom & barely ever even raised his voice in our upbringing. Dad wasn’t perfect but he really was a good man, a very good doctor, friend, brother, uncle, cousin, employer & especially a great father to the four of us children while we were growing up. He loved celebrating the little things in life — like snacking, but made it special… to sit and enjoy a moment with him with a cup of “chocolatito” and a little sweet bread, for example, would often turn out to be a special occasion wherein he would leave us with a sweet memory of - if not the conversation, the occasion itself. He also loved watching “peliculonas“ (old black and white movies made in Mexico even before he was born). He enjoyed Cantinflas, Pedro Infante & Mariachi music. Dad loved to sing… he could often be heard singing while alone. He loved the old Mexico that used to be — when he was young. He loved horses. He loved looking — and smelling good… he was never caught without cologne. He NEVER complained and even on his deathbed he still didn’t complain. Dad was always a happy & very easy-going person. He was a “can-do“ person — he always kept a very positive attitude. He loved life. All the above are just a few of many attributes to & memories of our dad, but there are much too many noteworthy things to list to do justice to the memory of this great man — a giant among men — with only a few paragraphs… as he lived an absolutely amazing life because he was a truly remarkable man. His death leaves a mark of deep loss — grief for untold hundreds (if not thousands) of people who knew him well… like an empty chair at the table — because he’s gone. Dad lived to the fullest, although his life — which was a blessing to many — was cut short and his death was untimely except we believe that only the Lord gives life and only the Lord takes life away… Blessed be the name of the Lord. Dr. Felipe Ramirez Rubio… Mi Cielo, A’Pa, papá, Elo, Guelo, Aguelo, Aguelito, Suegro, Amigo, Hermano, Cuñado, Primo, Tío, Lipio, Felipon, you will be forever missed — until we meet again. We love you dad!