Dr. Ramon Resa
06 23, 2016 at 12:00 pm to 1:30 pm
Dr. Ramon Resa was born to a teen mother who had five children before she was twenty. He has never known his father. He was raised by his grandparents in a farm working family with fifteen children. Their lives depended on the crops they picked year round. When the crops failed, they did without, and many times went hungry.
His world was one of poverty, neglect, abuse, and total disregard for education. His grandparents never encouraged him to get an education because to them, farm work was as high as anyone could dream. The odds stacked against him—low self-esteem, a speech impediment, recurring depression, and prejudice—were overwhelming.
It was his second and fourth grade teachers who saw something in him and promoted his love of reading. They opened his eyes to the idea of going to college and becoming a doctor. When his grandparents urged him to give up his dream and get a factory job so he could pay them back for taking him in, he almost caved in. But, armed only with his stubborn belief in himself and the love and support of his college sweetheart Debbie, now his wife of more than 30 years, he persisted and finished medical school. He returned to the Central Valley and opened his pediatric practice, where he has been working with poor and under served children.
