Tribute to Joe Ramos - Dear Joe

Dear Joe,

Photo and sentiment courtesy of
Dale Moews

Though we only rode together once and then only briefly, I’ve been moved to write to you. I can’t really explain the motivation for this except that seeing what our mutual friends are saying about you riding on has struck a chord in my heart and soul. I try not to question my muse, He knows too much and His plans are too far-reaching for my limited understanding. One thing I find difficult to understand is why particular people are taken from us and when and how they are taken. I can only hope that by my writing this and sharing it with our friends that someone out there will be touched by it and thereby helped along the road to peace as I have been touched by your friends’ genuine sentiments they’ve shared about you. You’ve left quite an impact.

          You might notice that I’m leaving much of this letter about you in the present tense. That is because that which you were in life on earth lives on in the hearts of those left behind and so they are still valid and not lost to us.

          Yes, you have made quite an impact on your friends. To them you are ‘bigger than life’, a man of quiet strength. Your friend Ken Roybal tells me that you commanded respect from all who knew you. Notice that I said commanded rather than demanded. It is the person you are which drives the respect, it was never anything you demanded. Ken attribute a big heart to you and that you ‘never threw people away’ and are willing to give people two, three, four chances. Translated, that means you are a person of great patience and hope and of great integrity. Thank you for that.

Karen and Joe on Route 66
Photo courtesy of Tim Tarbet

You are a man who loved a lot of things in life; motorcycles, cars, food, and more importantly, your kids and friends. Your friend Dale Moews went on to tell me that the thing you loved most was Karen and that even after sixteen years together you acted like you were newlyweds. I love hearing that about you; your passion for your wife and the genuine way you feel about her. That genuineness carried through to how you care for your friends and the people you’ve just met and how they feel they’ve known you for years. The way people feel comfortable with you so quickly speaks volumes about the man you are at heart. Thanks for that.

          Our friend Brad Parrack told me about how you are a kind and thoughtful man and ‘a tower of a man in deeds, thought, and stature’. He told me of a time that you showed up at a meet point for a ride only to tell the others that you needed to stay home with Karen because she was ill. These things speak well of how you built your life on a foundation of love and how you put that love into action. I believe that love is a verb and requires action, a belief that we share. Thanks.

          Shawn Frausto called me today. You and Karen made a deep impression on Shawn and Danielle. We talked a little about what you mean to him and a couple of ‘G’ words came up. You and your Karen are gracious and gregarious. Gracious in how you opened your home to them after a long hot ride for them to come visit you. You gave them water, space, and a place to be refreshed in mind and body. You are gregarious, you love being around people and they love being around you as well. Shawn told me of how you and Karen made a long ride on your own to meet up with folks to celebrate Shawn’s birthday even though you had to miss the group ride and that looms large in Shawn’s heart. I appreciate what you’ve meant to our friends.

          I noticed a photo of you in a California State Parks uniform. Very sharp. I might be mistaken about this and I imagine I’ll hear the details of it soon, maybe as a result of sharing my letter to you. I understand that you had a career in law enforcement leading up to your Parks service, service being the key word here. From all that I learned about you from our friends it does not surprise me that you were called as a public servant. Honest and honorable, gracious and gregarious, respected and respectful, loving and caring, firm, resolute yet warmhearted. You are a natural at public service because of all of those qualities. I believe that others have seen the way you conducted yourself in your career and are better public servants by your example. This gives me hope for the good guys.

          You’ve left us with quite a legacy and a tough act to follow. Because this is what friends and family do – we take all the good things we know about the ones we lose, we remember the excellent examples of how they lived, and we do our best to honor those memories in how we live and love. And that’s what we’ll do with you, remember your best and be the better for having known you.

          I’ll finish up with this as a prayer, if you don’t mind, for you, Karen and your kids, and the friends who are hurting at losing you. This is a couple of stanzas from a song I sung with a handful of guys early in the morning I started writing this letter. You were fresh on my heart and mind at the time and the tune rings true for you.

          From 10,000 Reasons:

The sun comes up, it’s a new day dawning;

It’s time to sing Your song again.

Whatever may pass, and whatever lies before me

Let me be singing when the evening comes.

You’re rich in love, and You’re slow to anger

Your name is great, and Your heart is kind.

For all Your goodness, I will keep on singing

Ten thousand reasons for my heart to find.

And on that day when my strength is failing,

The end draws near, and my time has come;

Still my soul will sing Your praise unending;

Ten thousand years and then for - - evermore!

         

Peace my friend,

jerry