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Mr. and Mrs. Ray Ramirez
By Yolanda Najera-Ewing
Pinal Nugget
His eyes shone and his smile widened as memories rushed back and he spoke wistfully of the Superior of his youth. He told of the sparkling, crystal clear water that flowed year round in Queen Creek as it made its way through the middle of town. He remembered chasing the wild burros that roamed freely in and around Superior. His mind wandered over the eighty some years Ray Ramirez, Sr. has spent in his home town.
A native of Superior, he was born in the family home on Pinal Ave. across the street from his future wife, Evelyn San Emeterio, also born on Pinal Ave. Ray had four siblings and Evelyn was one of seven sisters. The 1930’s in Superior had their problems and were not as carefree as one would think. All of the children were attending Roosevelt School on the corner of Porphyry St. and Lobb Ave. Evelyn remembers the local sheriff coming to their homes to take all of them to Harding School on the west end of Main Street as that was the school Mexican children attended. Juanita (Jennie) Escalante Ramirez, Ray’s mother, refused to have the children taken to Harding School when they were already attending the closer Roosevelt School. Schools were not the only places that were segregated in Superior. The Uptown Theater on Main Street and the Magma Club on the east end of town were also segregated. Each had days when Mexicans could attend and when “Americans” could attend. This was the darker side of the beautiful Superior Ray remembers.
Ray and his family did live for a time on a ranch at Hewitt Station. He fondly remembers jostling into town with his father, Miguel, in the family’s Model A Ford. He would attend school while his father went to work. Ray played baseball and football in school. “Sports were tough then. We played on a dirt and rock field. Sometimes during the games you could see the red hot, lava-like slag being poured down the hill in the background,” he remembered. Ray also remembers his first hot shower vividly. The shower was next to their house and used gravity flow for the hot water. He and his siblings slept outdoors in the summer due to the absence of any type of cooling. His family supplemented their food supply with a vegetable garden watered by a well. In 1934, the Ramirez family moved back to Superior.
Back in the 30’s and 40’s, Pinal Ave. was an unpaved, dirt street without sidewalks; but it was, nonetheless, a bustling avenue. At that time, Pinal boasted having the mine cooperative, Mitchell’s dry goods store, La Estrella grocery, El Capucili variety store, a pool hall, a swimming pool, a bowling alley and a mortuary among other businesses. Just off Pinal was the Azteca grocery store, El Porvenir Tortilla Factory and a movie theater. Not to be left behind, Main St. had the Magma Hotel, a barber shop, two pharmacies, Banks and Smokey’s hardware stores, a bank, Wing’s super market, restaurants, the Uptown Movie Theater, the United States Post Office, Daniel’s clothing store, Mitchell’s clothing store, Vaughn’s clothing store, Bellamak clothing store, BBB Grocery, Ruben’s and Porter’s furniture stores and a couple of beauty salons. The Magma Club was built in the late twenties, and it too had a swimming pool. However, Ray remembers his favorite place to swim was a swimming hole behind the Magma Club which he and his friends had dubbed, El Pierdon.
Evelyn smiled and remembered going to the movies with a quarter in her pocket. The movie ticket was a dime which left fifteen cents for a soda and a candy bar or popcorn. School back then still offered more than the bare necessities. In addition to the core subjects, students could avail themselves of wood shop, auto shop, art and music. Students played all the sports students do now, but baseball was a favorite. Superior and the surrounding towns all had semi-pro baseball teams that traveled the area and played each other.
One of Evelyn’s strongest memories was being called out of class for the announcement that Japan had attacked Pearl Harbor and the country was at war. “I never thought that we really suffered from the war. Food was rationed, and we used stamps to get it, but it wasn’t that bad.” Evelyn’s mother and father, Maria and Manuel, supplemented the family’s commodities by raising chickens and rabbits. “One Sunday we would have chicken for dinner and the next it would be rabbit,” she remembered.” The family also economized by buying in bulk as there was nine of them. Tortillas were a staple item, and the girls took turns making them every day.
Ray and Evelyn were still in school when he falsified his age and went to war for two and a half years. Ray was a member of the occupying forces in Hiroshima and Nagasaki. “It was nothing but a smoke stack here and a smoke stack there,” said Ray shaking his head as he remembered. He remained in Japan for a year. The couple was married in 1949, and Ray was recalled to serve in Korea with the Army Corps of Engineers before their first son, Ray Jr., was born. Ray Sr. noted that many Magma Company workers were recalled at the same time. His young son was two years old by the time Ray returned from war for the second time. Evelyn and Ray had a second son, Arthur, who died in 2013. After his service to his country, Ray Sr. returned to his job at Magma Copper where he stayed for an additional 40 years, retiring in 1984. “I started working with nothing but a cap on my head,” said Ray in amazement, “We had no hard hats, no safety shoes, no safety glasses, nothing.”
Superior spent the 50’s and the 60’s as an authentic, southwest, boom town. While Magma Copper Company boomed, so did the town. Evelyn happily remembered a dance hall called, Las Dos Republicas, which was located behind what is now Saint Francis of Assisi Catholic Church. Dances and parties were held there every week. “We would go there and ‘ventanillar,’ that is, look through the windows,” she offered. Both Evelyn and Ray spoke of a home town mariachi band that performed for the dances and parties. Some of mariachi players were Trini Corrales, Umberto (Chapo) Zepeda, Wes Hyman, Pedro Najera and Raul Grijalva.
“The mine shut down in 1982, and there went the town,” Ray sighed. He added, “It will never be the same. Things change. From 1945 to now, the changes have been unbelievable. Apache Junction didn’t even exist then.” When asked why they have never left Superior the couple said that they have never considered leaving Superior that Superior is home. “I would never leave Superior. All our friends are here. We can sit and talk with all our friends. It would be so different to leave everything you know. I am rich in my friends and in having a place that’s home!”
Gary Every is an award winning author who has won consecutive Arizona Newspaper Awards for best lifestyle feature for pieces “The Apache Naichee Ceremony” and “Losing Geronimo’s Language”. The best of the first decade of his newspaper columns for The Oracle newspaper were compiled by Ellie Mattausch into a book titled Shadow of the OhshaD. Mr. Every has also been a four time finalist for the Rhysling Award for years best science fiction poetry. Mr. Every is the author of ten books and his books such as Shadow of the Ohshad or the steampunk thriller The Saint and The Robot are available either through Amazon or www.garyevery.com.
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