Heres another serendipitous experience that happened last night (Tues. 3 Dec. 2013), the biggest one so far. I called to clarify and finalize my switch to the Colorado Heath Exchange policy that I wanted. Id tried over the weekend but was met with queues of at least 57 people in front of me. Last night the queue was 20, so I held on. The woman on the other end went over my information, asking my full name. I gave her Ramey Watson as middle and last. We have that in common, she said. What? I asked. Ramey, she said. Im a Ramey too. Where are you located, here in Denver? I asked. No, in Tennessee. In a suburb of Nashville. I know many of the family remained back east, since they landed in Virginia and some, like mine, moved West. Yes, we still have many in Virginia. Is one of your relatives the French Canadian Jacques La Ramee? I asked. Yes. We must be related, I said, knowing how proud of the name my Ramey relatives are. They moved from France when they were told to convert or leave, then went to Holland, and then to England--then to Virginia, I said. We really are related, she said, further raising the hairs on the back of my neck. Not long ago one of my relatives discovered that some of the Rameys at least had been Sephardic Jews living peacefully in Spain till the first pogrom, when Queen Isabella told them they had to convert or leave. So they moved to France, where they became Huguenots. My Orthodox Jewish editor who is deeply into the Kabala thinks thats where my mystical scholarly bent came from, since the Sephardic Jews were the mystics and scholars. That I didnt know, she said. OK, so let me ask you about your end of the family and racial prejudice. I dont think I ever heard any from my Rameys. I was always encouraged to learn about other cultures, including the Mexicans that my grandfather had work on his ranch and farm in the migrant worker program every summer. Nor did I hear anything vicious about blacks or anyone else. Same here. I was in fact just telling a friend of mine the same thing. We have a little bit of everything and everyone is welcome at family reunions. We used to have family reunions when I was growing up, I said. I dont think I ever heard religious prejudice either. Many are Presbyterian because they became Huguenots in France. Yes, many of ours are Presbyterians, though we have a bit of everything, she said, telling me that she too has Ramey as the first part of her married hyphenated name. Those Rameys have long been a proud bunch, I said. No one was going to push them around, try as they did. I laughed. I hoped she would email me to follow up on our reunion. She too is a dog lover, and has just acquired a puppy.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Dec 2013 01:55:20 +0000
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