‘A+ mom’ helps daughters stay close through COVID complications

Dayton resident Deborah Ramirez’s older daughter began her education during the pandemic, when schools were shut down in 2020 and then many parents chose to have their students go the distance learning route or tried the hybrid option.

Ramirez said with her daughter Sarah, now 8, and her younger daughter, Lily, 6, who doesn’t remember what that was like, she wanted to make sure her girls understood how important it was to remain close in these circumstances and beyond.

“It was harder for parents who had older kids,” Ramirez said. “For us, it was straightforward. (Lily) was really good. We did weekly check-ins with her kindergarten teacher and we’d have Zoom meetings. We’d track Sarah’s progress as well. But she probably didn’t have it as hard.”

The girls have been attending Dayton’s Riverview Elementary School, and Ramirez said since she came from a background where her family wasn’t always close, she wanted to ensure her children would have a good upbringing and appreciation for family life in a place like Dayton.

Ramirez, originally from Southern California, moved to Northern Nevada in 2008 and met her husband Gabriel in 2012. They moved to Dayton in 2017 and married in 2019.

Gabriel works full-time performing auto body work while she works for a dental office in Reno, she said.

“I’m actually going back to school right now to get into dental hygiene,” she said. “Other offices, they have a lot of hygienists changing careers after COVID. It gets challenging, but honestly, I couldn’t do it without my husband.”

The Ramirez daughters, who are a part of the Boys and Girls Clubs of Mason Valley and attend events in Dayton or in conjunction with the BGC Truckee Meadows, have had opportunities to explore their own interests outside of school. Deborah Ramirez said it’s helped them to maintain a sense of normalcy as children.

“My youngest Lily took first place (in a spelling bee) out of all the kindergarteners with the BGC here,” she said. “You always ask them, ‘What did you do?’ and you get the ‘I don’t remember.’ ”

She said Sarah also took part in the spelling bee, and while she didn’t win, it was a good experience for her.

“It was her first competition,” she said. “She did the best she could.”

Nick Beaton, BGCMV director of development, described Ramirez as an “A+ mom” who “works hard for her girls, is engaged and the family is a complete and total joy. (She’s) just someone who does what she needs to do for her family and raising them right.”

Ramirez said she was thankful for the club’s staff for hosting its family nights and various activities for her children, praising their efforts.

“The kids really love all the staff,” she said. “They’re super nice and easy to work with.”

In the end, she said she wants to make sure the girls are appreciating how much they’ll need each other now and as they grow up.

“(I want to) instill in my girls that family’s important,” Ramirez said. “I’m reminding them that they’re the only sister they’re going to have. There’s just times they’re not going to get along. … If one does something, the other’s got to do the exact same thing. I’m glad we have the two of them.”