Obituary of Annabell Ramirez

Annabell Ramirez died peacefully April 19, 2016, in San Juan Bautista, CA, in the home she had lived in for more than 50 years, surrounded by close friends and her attentive caregiver. Annabell had lived an adventurous life of 95 years. Annabell Ramirez was born Alice May Hodges on November 29, 1920 in San Diego, CA. Her birth mother, Mary Rozas Hodges, was unable to take care of her, so her Aunt Belle (short for Isabelle) became her nurturing mother and gave her adopted daughter the name Annabell Donohoe, the last name after the man who, along with Belle, helped raised her after they moved to Long Beach, CA. Belle and Annabell later made their home in San Francisco when Annabell was 3 years old. Belle earned money as a housekeeper, but it wasn't much money. Belle and Annabell shared a “housekeeping room” in a hotel where the bathroom was down the hall for everyone on the floor. Belle also had serious medical problems, causing extended hospitalizations. Annabell went to public schools in San Francisco, but when Belle would be hospitalized, Annabell was sent to a Catholic boarding convent, until money that paid her stay ran out and she was sent home. Before she was 8 years old, Annabell had been in Mount St. Joseph’s three times and a Santa Cruz convent once. When Belle was feeling well and working, on weekends she would often give Annabell a nickel to go to the movies in San Francisco all day while Belle worked. Belle did giver her specific safeguarding directions (like always sit in an aisle seat). Somehow Annabell survived. In 1930, as the Depression was making life hard for all Americans, Belle met a man named Charles Barber. Charles tried to find work that would support the three of them. He traveled with Belle and Annabell to Los Angeles, Sonora, CA, then back to Los Angeles. He was generally unsuccessful in finding work. In 1933, when Annabell was 12, Belle left Charles and moved back with Annabell to San Francisco. Belle’s medical problems reached a crisis when Annabell was 15, and Annabell was sent to live with her aunt Eileen Bromberger, who insisted Annabell earn her own way immediately as a housekeeper and nanny. It was a tough life for a teenager. While she was still a teenager, Annabell met Leonard Stahl, a kind and caring man, and before long he rescued her from her difficult situation by marrying her when she was 19. Leonard was in the army and spent a lot of time overseas. Meanwhile, Annabell worked as retail clerk in a San Francisco Sears store and enjoyed going to the horse races. One day, when Annabel was 21 and Leonard was overseas, someone knocked at her door. When she opened it, the man identified himself as Mr. Polsen, and then further identified himself as Annabell’s birth father. He then invited her out to dinner and to a dance ballroom. Annabell showed no interest in Mr. Polsen the entire evening. After he took her back home, he never again appeared in her life. After Leonard was discharged from the army, he worked on the San Francisco docks. Although he was a good man, there really wasn’t a chemistry between Leonard and Annabell. So, after a number of years of marriage, Annabell and Leonard were divorced. When Annabell was in her early 30s, she was asked by her family to move to San Juan Bautista to take care of her grandmother, Emelda Lugo Rozas, which Annabell did faithfully until Grandma Rozas died at age 104. At the same time, Annabell started to work in a job for which she would become well known--waitressing. She worked at both La Casa Rosa and Cadematori’s and developed the reputation of being, by far, the best waitress in town. In the 1950s Annabell met Joe Ramirez, who had a young daughter and who worked as an auto mechanic in Hollister, and they soon married. They purchased a house in San Juan Bautista in 1964, a home Annabell would live in until she died. Joe and Annabell loved to gamble, and they would often take trips to Reno, where they used Annabell's tip money to pay for the cost of a hotel and to fund their gambling. Annabell and Joe had no children of their own, although Annabell had a traumatic miscarriage early in their marriage. Joe, a smoker, died in 2001; after that, Annabell lived by herself. She developed a wonderful circle of friends and neighbors who supported and encouraged her. In the summer of 2015 Annabell suffered a painful pelvic fracture, was hospitalized and spent many weeks in a rehabilitation center, where she make a remarkable recovery. When she was released in the fall of 2015, she went home to tender 24/7 care from All Day Senior Care in Hollister. Her caregivers treated her very kindly; and her friends, neighbors and family members continued to provide a strong supportive circle. In the winter of 2015-16, Annabell's health declined to the point she needed hospice care, but her mind continued to be sharp. She could still remember hundreds of details of her 95-year life. She always loved to tell stories of her time in San Francisco and her days in San Juan Bautista. And Annabell had a quick wit and lively sense of humor throughout her life. She had a way of making the people around her smile and laugh. Annabell is survived by her half-sister Priscilla Patterson, half-brother Raymond Gamez, brother-in-law Manuel Ramirez (wife Margie), sister-in-law Ruby Jaime, cousin Heide Baez, and step-daughter Sandra Ramirez Spevak (husband John). A Mass of the Resurrection will be celebrated for Annabell at the San Juan Bautista Mission Church on Thursday, May 19, at 11 a.m. A reception will be held immediately following at Dona Esther’s restaurant in San Juan Bautista.