Strong and Brave, Josepha Aurelia Pulido Ramirez, known as "Phenie", grandma, and most notably "mom" was born on July 27, 1930 at her family home on Kansas City's Westside to Benigno Pulido and Maria Macaria Rivera. As a child, her family moved back to the family farm in San Pedro de Los Hernandez, Leon Guanajuato, where she lived during World War II. Her teachers did not like the strong willed independent minded American born Phenie, disallowing her to carry the Mexican flag on September 15th-Mexican Independence Day, but she fought for her right to do so and for her identity as both American and Mexican.

After her mother's death, her father sold the family farm and they moved back to Kansas City. She met David Ramirez, her husband, when they were both children. She became friends with him upon her return as a teenager, until he enlisted in the US Army and was stationed overseas. She waited for her one true love, David, to return from US military service in the Far East, writing him letters overseas and carrying his photo. She eloped at the age of 21 on March 31 ^st , 1952, which in her words was Holy Week, and as such a violation of the Catholic Church rules. When one of her granddaughters asked "Grandma, why did you want to marry grandpa?" She responded, laughingly "I thought he was nice-looking. He was kind to me, but of course he couldn't dance." Family was her heart and she was the head. A tenacious woman in her times, pragmatic and rooted, she traveled alone by train in her early twenties from Kansas City to Tacoma to begin her life with her true love, David, while he was stationed at the military base, and again from Tacoma, Washington to a military hospital in San Francisco with her first born son in her arms, so she could get her baby a much needed surgery.

Although, she left Kansas City's Westside as a young woman, and created her family home in Kansas City's historic Valentine neighborhood, she returned to the Westside working as a bilingual teacher's aide for marginalized preschool children in the struggling Kansas City Missouri Public School system of the 1980s. She was a long-standing member of her Catholic church, Our Lady of Perpetual Help Parish Redemptorist Church, powerful in her faith. A legendary cook, who baked biscuits from scratch on an open fire during camping trips. However, it was her daily fresh made tortillas that evoke her loving kindness. Family camping trips were her favorite type of travel, but she traveled to the beaches of California and North Carolina. She loved vegetable gardening and fixing up her home with DIY projects. An expert seamstress, she made wedding dresses to clothes for her grandchildren's dolls. An avid lover of old movies, especially Elvis ones. She loved Big Band and 50's music, often dancing when she thought no one was looking. Her spirit and love will be forever missed and kept in the hearts of those who knew her.

She spent her final days surrounded by her husband, David, and her family. She passed away peacefully in her sleep in her home cradled in her husband's arms on July 26th, 2020 at the age of 89 years old. She is survived by her husband of 68 years, David Ramirez and her children, David Ramirez, Zita Diane Ramirez [John Reider], Janet Ramirez [Bruce Baggett], Vickie Baggett [George Baggett], Alfred Ramirez, Gloria Smith [Kevin Smith], Susan Ramirez [John Redmond], Michael Ramirez [Laurie Ramirez], Sara Sanchis and Stephanie Lindsey [Bill Lindsey]. 13 grandchildren, and 9 great grandchildren. Siblings: Nick Oliver Pulido [deceased], Lena Zita Sublette, Silvia Ablena May, Isabel Pulido [deceased], Margie Marcella Pulido [deceased], Gonzalo Pulido [deceased], Edward Pulido [deceased], Jerry Pulido [deceased], Bernie Pulido.

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