To Celebrate a Life of Love: Alicia Ramírez Méndez Bullock, M.D.

July 2, 1930-March 9, 2020

Originally from Santurce, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Alicia was the third of seven children born to Manuel Ramírez and his wife, Marcelina Méndez. A bright and happy child, she started school a year early and later skipped the fourth grade. She excelled scholastically and was admitted to the first medical school class at the University of Puerto Rico in San Juan. During her first year of study, she learned that her older brother, First Lt. Pablo Ramírez, a platoon leader and member of the 65th Infantry, had been killed in action in Korea. She graduated second of 50 students, one of eight women, at the age of 24. She moved to the mainland to complete her residency in internal medicine at the Baylor College of Medicine in Houston, TX. There she met and married another young resident, Allen Bullock, the love of her life. He said he taught her to read ECGs. She laughed and denied it. Devoted and generous parents, they raised three children and instilled in them some of the greatest traits of the greatest generation. Alicia’s interests were varied and included Russian literature, classical music, detective stories, antiquing, and sports. A compulsive note-taker, she was truly a lifelong learner. Storytelling with family and friends and homecomings to Puerto Rico delighted her. A lover of the bargain, her haggling skills were put to use in all of the family’s car purchases. She completed her career as the Medical Director of the VA Outpatient Clinic in Corpus Christi, retiring after her 75th birthday. Soon afterward the couple moved to San Antonio to be closer to family. She and son Allen cared for our father until his death in 2009.