Andrea A. Ramos relocated with her family to North Miami from Brooklyn, in the ‘80s, only to fall in love in 1992 with Ernie Ramos, who came to the city as a 9-year-old from Cuba.
While both Andrea and Ernie attended and graduated from North Miami High School, they didn’t meet there.
“I graduated high school before Andrea, I was a little ahead of her,” said Ernie. “Crazy thing is I actually knew some of her friends, then, but never met her.”
Back then, ninth grade was still considered middle school–which meant that Andrea was still in middle school when Ernie graduated from North Miami High.
So, the couple wouldn’t meet until the ripe ages of 19 and 21.
At 19, Andrea was in her second year of college at Barry University. At 21, Ernie was a little league baseball coach for a team called the Yankees, while working part-time at the Miami Herald.
“We had pinstriped uniforms and everything, just like the Yankees,” said Ernie.
Andrea’s little brother, Javier Aguirre, was also on the little league team.
“He used to coach my brother at Ray Cagni Park, who was 12 at the time, and that’s how we met,” said Andrea, “I thought he was very handsome and cute.”
From dropping her brother off to practice, to occasionally chaperoning the 15-member team, Andrea was a familiar face at Ray Cagni Park.
But what attracted Ernie was her scent.
“Every time she came to the park she smelled really, really good,” said Ernie. “All the coaches were pretty attracted to her, but, of course, I made the move.”
Andrea had never had a serious boyfriend, and so while she liked Ernie, she said they were friends first.
“We talked and we became friends because I didn’t know him,” said Andrea. “We were friends for a while before we started dating.”
The couple’s first date was a 1992 Paula Abdul concert, after which they decided to become an official couple.
During this time, Andrea started teaching gymnastics for the City of North Miami while going to college, and soon after, gaining her degree in teaching.
Ernie, on the other hand, was attending Miami Dade College for his degree in education.
“I wasn’t working with the parks and recreation department yet, but Andrea was able to get me a job,” said Ernie. “I was hired to run the city’s baseball league, gained a recreational leadership position, and became full time in 1997 as Recreation Leader Two.”
The new position still allowed Ernie to coach, but it also gave him more of a supervisor role: setting up schedules, hiring coaches, etc.
In 2000, the year that Ernie and Andrea were getting married—tragedy struck when Javier suddenly died at 19.
“He had a heart condition–it was a shock of the heart,” said Andrea. “It took like six months to get his autopsy report.”
Javier was known for coaching sports, including soccer, in the community with the recreation department.
With Ernie by her side, Andrea was able to move forward and she and Ernie continued working diligently for the city.
“My wife and I are job-basis employees, since 2000 we work whatever we need to work, sometimes overnight, we are super committed,” said Ernie. “The city has been so good to us, you don’t work 25-plus years for a city without making friends, building bonds and letting people know you mean well.”
The couple has two children, a 14-year-old daughter and 12-year-old son. Though the couple moved to Miami Lakes to be closer to Andrea’s parents, their children are still a part of North Miami.
“Our children do community service, my son is in the soccer program and my daughter is in the arts and finance program,” said Andrea. “My daughter will be volunteering at Enchanted Forest Park soon.”
Ernie also expressed how his family moved to North Miami in 1979, and is still happily living there.
“We came from Cuba straight to North Miami, and we are all American citizens,” said Ernie. “They pay taxes in North Miami, vote there, my grandmother is there, my parents are there, and my aunt still lives up the street.”
As they continue to work for the Parks and Recreation Department, they are looking forward to celebrating their 16th wedding anniversary this June.
“We really do love each other very much, it’s been 24 years,” said Andrea.
“It goes so fast.”
“The City of North Miami has been good to Andrea and I, we know it, we understand it, and we want to make sure we give back to the city. We don’t have plans to go anywhere. Our commitment to this community is solid. No one can come in and mess with that.” –Ernie Ramos, Parks & Recreation Department
