Nelly Ramírez, retired and a widow, is a mother of four children.    

She was born in Yauco, Puerto Rico in 1940.  Her father, Juan García Camacho, arrived in Chicago in 1949, while her mother, María Inez Rodríguez Quiñones, and her siblings, Tadeo (Roberto) and Ferdinand, arrived in 1950 from Guánica, Puerto Rico. Not knowing the English language, her family encountered harsh discrimination throughout their lives. Like many Puerto Ricans, they were parishioners of the Holy Name Cathedral's congregation.  

After several years, the family moved further South to Loomis, where they lived in a well-known furnished building called "El Aguacate," where many Puerto Ricans found refuge. At one point, the building caught fire. Nelly's father, who did not believe in banks, saved money in a suitcase. As everyone had to evacuate, her father returned to retrieve it. However, he could not escape the bellowing smoke and fire, so he jumped out of the fire escape and badly injured himself, breaking his leg. Because of this, he had to quit his job at the steel mill, leaving her mother, María, as head of the household and working at a factory.  

The women on Nelly's mother's side worked during an era when women were not allowed to work; they were expected to be housewives. Nelly's mother was not a stranger to working outside the home; in Yauco, Puerto Rico, she worked for the Catholic school system, maintaining the district's lunch nutrition menu. 

Nelly had three children with Luis Quiñones Caraballo from Yauco: Luisa, Noemy, and Louis (Jimmy).   Nelly was in an abusive marriage and divorced during a time when it was unacceptable for women to leave their husbands. She was now a single mom raising three children with her parents' help. Later, Nelly remarried Carlos J Ramírez from Guayanilla, Puerto Rico, and they had a child together, Carlos Ramírez Jr. Nelly worked in a factory until retirement, while her husband worked his way up from stock manager at a hospital to a mechanic for CTA. Both parents worked hard to nurture and advance their family and instilled in their kids not to forget where they came from, speaking in Spanish at home and in English at school. They believed in co-existing culturally with the American culture, not omitting their Puerto Rican heritage, the essence of who they are. Among other cultural activities, parranda and jíbaro music were a part of their Christmas festivities, as was Puerto Rican food like arroz con gandules.  

To protect her children from facing the same discrimination and deplorable conditions she experienced after arriving from Puerto Rico, Nelly and Carlos continued to move further North.   

After her husband and youngest son passed away, Nelly dedicated her time to taking care of her mother, who was suffering from Alzheimer's. Today, Nelly, a bit fragile using a walker, has her own apartment and runs around with her grown children and eldest granddaughter, Marisela.