And as Belmopan prepares for a remembrance event for the three victims of the New Year's Eve murder that's scheduled for tomorrow evening, we dug into archives - where we found interviews with two of them, Vivian and Jon, pursuing non traditional occupations and recreational outlets. Here's a quick look:
Within one week in February of 2015, we met both Ramnarace's, Vivian and John - we didn't know them as a couple then - but we knew these were exceptional folks.
He was the president of a Harley Davidson Motorcycle Club at the first local Harley Convention:
Post February 6, 2015
John Ramnarace
"Everybody use to gather at my house, we hang out, we messed with the bikes, we barbeque - just have fun and then we decided hey we could really make a club from this."
And she was and Enforcement Coordinator at the Fisheries Department talking about a recent bust:
Vivian Ramnarace
"Our mandate is to protect and conserve the fisheries resources of Belize and so it's sad really because these local fishermen are really hurting themselves in the end, because they are hurting the industry and in years to come, they will lose their livelihoods, because the conch industry will basically crash."
These are non traditional pursuits and occupations for these young Belmopanese - but these two were anything but ordinary:
Beverly Wade, Vivian's Friend/Colleague
"She was a fierce domino player and I will always remember the good times we have had playing dominoes beating our colleagues at fisheries most of the time. She and I were the only female around the table playing dominoes with the fellows and that was her environment. She was one of the boys, you know."
And eventually she would lead John right into her line of work:
Beverly Wade, Vivian's Friend/Colleague
"In fact, John segued into the area that he did because of Vivian's influence, I would say."
Post February 28, 2019
Jon Ramnarace
"The reason why we went with this drone is because it is very portable. You can actually fold this up and it would essentially fit in your pants pocket."
And after he used his computer knowledge to help with enforcement - she went on to the policy level - where she was a force to be reckoned with on NEAC:
Beverly Wade, Vivian's Friend/Colleague
"She is actually the go to person even to John Q public. If somethings happen out there, if there is a grounding or some event that's happening out there, people call her directly, because they know that she is a person of integrity and she is a person of action and she was a person who cared. Consummate professional and very much a person of very high integrity. She was always the point person on NEAC (National Environmental Appraisal Committee), she was actually my alternate and she remains that alternate and lead technical person on that committee up until this tragedy that had occurred, even though a lot of the times she might be the singular voice in a room advocating for things to be done in such a way. She never wavered."
Funeral plans for Jon, Vivian and David "Mikey" Ramnarace have not been finalized, but tomorrow evening at 6:00 at Belmopan Comprehensive there will be a remembrance of the BCS graduates where pledges for their daughters education will also be accepted.