Hidalgo County New Mexico


Ramona and Elias
May 17, 1915 - August 28, 1985
Ramona was born in El Paso to Ramon and Esther Salinas Meneses, a few months after Ramon’s death. Esther took Ramona and her older brother Frank and moved west finding work in the mining camps, cooking and washing clothes for the miners.

They eventually ended up in Paradise, Arizona where she worked and the children attended school for a short time and then moved on to Rodeo. Ramona married Manuel Elias Gomez there on September 16, 1928. They raised eight children here, Irene, Connie, Lenore, Alice, Manuel Elias, Jr., Nettie, Elizabeth and Robert. During World War II, she worked for the Southern Pacific Railway, along with Nina Harris and Maude Russell, because of a shortage of men.

While raising her 8 children, she was active with all community projects and became a certified midwife with the help of Colonel Pugsley (who was a retired Army doctor). She and Elias, along with Angela and Ramon Somoza and family and friends all got together and built the San Felipe Catholic Mission in Rodeo, which is still in use.

She and Elias were involved in starting the Rodeo Community Association and the Rodeo Fire Department and was known for her beautiful singing voice. She died of esophagial cancer after a two year battle.