1932-2025
Donna Lou Ramirez, 92, passed away early Saturday morning, soon after being admitted to the Pawnee Valley Community Hospital.
She was born July 16, 1932 in Centralia, Oklahoma, on the Cherokee Nation Reservation, the daughter of Luther Rix Bryant and Lydia "Esther" Miles in the upstairs of her grandfather, John Benedict's, home, along with her twin brother. She married Jose Carmelo Ramirez Rendon on November 23, 1989 in Kinsley Kansas. At the time of her death, they had been married for 45 years. Carmelo was not only her husband, but for several years before her death, he was her caregiver. She was preceded in death by 3 husbands, David Junior Gugins, Robert Leon Fish, and Glen Elkins.
As a child growing up in Centraila, Oklahoma in the Cherokee nation reservation, she milked cows before and after school, planted corn by hand, and plowed the fields with a plow pulled by a team of horses. She liked fishing for catfish and hand fishing "noodling." As a young teenager her family moved to Trousdale Kansas where she met and married her first husband, David Junior Gugins. As an adult she enjoyed canning, baking, making candy, quilting, working on houses, and working outside. She worked for many years at Cross Manufacturing in Lewis Kansas. She retired as a housekeeper from Larned State Hospital. While working these jobs, she would pick up shifts at night, working for Blue Goose and Don Do Cafe as a dishwasher and a nurse’s aide for Hammond Holiday Home. She sold McNess, Stanley, and Fuller Brush products. She baby-sat for many children during her life. Donna and Carmelo also ran a trailer park in Lewis, Kansas. She loved animals, and would rescue injured animals by bringing them into her home to become a pet. She was always trying to help the less fortunate.
She was preceded in death by her parents, two brothers, Billy Lee "her twin", and Luther Eugene Bryant; four sisters, Faunelle Howington, Zona Faye Bryant, Waletha Mae Bryant, and Johnie Jalene "Bearly" Thompson; and three sons, Gary, Perry, and Wayne Gugins, and one granddaughter Crystal Lynn Gugins.
Survivors include: one sister, Virginia Louise Jones of Barnsdall Oklahoma; son Stuart Fish of Lewis Kansas; three daughters, Betty Haney of Larned, Kansas, Janet Jackson of Great Bend, Kansas and Karen Weiser of Sun City West, Arizona; three granddaughters, Rebecca Haney of Topeka, Kansas, Tina Stacey of Great Bend, Kansas, and Judy Lemuz of Wichita Kansas; thirteen grandsons, Michael Haney of Larned, Kansas, Nathan Haney of Topeka, Kansas, Randy Haney of Lake City, Texas, Todd Weisensee of Wichita, Kansas, Brian Weiser of Junction City, Kansas, Jesse Weiser of Thornton, Colorado, Eric Weiser of Glendale, Arizona, Gary Gugins of Kinsley, Kansas, Dallas Gugins of San Diego, California and three other Grandchildren; twenty-six plus great grandchildren, and twelve great-great grandchildren.
She worked hard all of her life to be independent and raise her family. She was a loving mother, grandmother, great grandmother, and great-great grandmother, whenever family or friends would visit. She will be missed.
Funeral mass will be 10:30 a.m. Friday, May 2, 2025 at Sacred Heart Catholic Church, Larned with Father Anselm Eke, MSP presiding. Visitation will be 9:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. Thursday, May 1, 2025 with a vigil and rosary at 7:00 p.m. at Beckwith Mortuary, Larned. Burial will be in Larned Cemetery.
Memorials may be given to Pawnee County Humane Society in care of Beckwith Mortuary, PO Box 477, Larned, Kansas 67550. Personal condolences may be left at www.beckwithmortuary.com.
To plant Memorial Trees in memory of Donna Lou Ramirez, please click here to visit our Sympathy Store.
Interment Funeral
