Mountain Views News          Saturday, January 10, 2015

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Mountain View News Saturday, January 10, 2015 

Walking Sierra Madre…The Social Side 

by Deanne Davis

REMEMBRANCE

Joseph “Joe” Jack Ramsey passed away Dec. 29th, 
2014 at Arcadia Methodist Hospital. Joe Ramsey, 
son of Jack S. Ramsey and Helen L. Ramsey, 
was a father, a husband, and a friend, loved and 
respected by many. He was also a musician, a 
record producer, and a small business owner.

Joe was born at City of Angels Medical Center 
in Los Angeles. He spent his first three years 
living in Altadena, then moved to Arcadia, 
where he attended Dana Middle School, Arcadia 
High School and Pasadena City College. In the 
mid-1970s, Joe moved to Sierra Madre where he 
(mostly) lived until he moved to Monrovia in 2011. 

Joe’s early jobs were at Licorice Pizza and the 
Wherehouse, record stores where he could indulge 
himself with his first great love, music. These jobs 
were a natural progression following his entry into 
performing, appearing with bands as early as middle 
school. Joe went on to perform with numerous 
bands, including HiFi, Chance, Foul Play, The 
Item, The Cyclones and many others. His greatest 
musical success came with The Prime Movers from 
1983 to 1988, which was signed to Island Records 
and toured the UK, opening for Big Country, as 
well as domestically, and Dread Zeppelin, with 
whom he performed more than 900 gigs during 
several world tours. Dread Zeppelin’s first album, 
Un-Led-Ed, sold a million copies, and the band 
appeared on television and portrayed themselves 
in the motion picture National Lampoon’s Last 
Resort. Ramsey performed under the stage name 
Severs Ramsey with The Prime Movers and Jah Paul 
Joh in Dread Zeppelin.

In his later years, Joe’s life went full circle, as he went 
back into the work force selling vinyl records during 
its recent resurgence in popularity, first at Berdan 
Records in Monrovia and then partnering with Sean 
Sprinkel to open Resistor Records, also in Monrovia. 
But he hadn’t given up performing, organizing a 
concert at Matt Denny’s in Arcadia that featured 
many of his old bandmates from both his school days 
and throughout his career. 

In the late 70s, Joe partnered with several friends to 
open Marquee West, a rock and roll club in Arcadia. 
In 1983, he opened his own independent record label, 
Birdcage Records, home to such acts as not only his 
own Prime Movers and Dread Zeppelin, but artists 
such as Stan Ridgway, Ron Asheton, and Pietra 
Wexstun, In Vivo, The Mystery Band and others. 

In 2002, Joe met and began dating Allison Koester-
Martinez. The two were married, and had two 
daughters, Mika, 6 and Kaiya Jo, 4. And Joe loved 
being their daddy…according to Allison: “Joe’s sole 
passion in life was creating music. He lived and 
breathed it. After we had our babies, his focus shifted 
and he only had eyes for them. He still had that 
musical fire burning in him, but all he wanted was 
to make sure these little girls were happy, secure, and 
loved like crazy.”

Joe is survived by his wife, Allison, his two daughters, 
Mika and Kaiya Jo, and a sister, Elizabeth Brierty. 
Members of the family gathered on Jan. 2nd to say 
goodbye prior to Joe’s cremation at Forest Lawn in 
Glendale. Plans are in the works for a memorial 
gathering/concert possibly in February or early 
March with several bands that Joe had discussed 
bringing together for a concert. An announcement 
will be made when the details are worked out, you 
will be able to find the information on line at the 
website referenced below.

Joe’s passing was the result of a decade long battle 
with medical problems consisting of a heart attack, 
cancer, and a recent stroke. Some of Joe’s legion of 
friends and fans have created a website to help the 
family with the bills incurred by these issues, and if 
you’d like to donate you can do so by visiting www.
JoeRamseyFamilyFund.com. 

From the website: This fundraiser is initiated and 
supported by the many people who have known 
and loved Joe Ramsey and his family over the years. 
Donations to this fund will go to help defray medical 
costs as well as funeral expenses, costs of living for 
Allison and the children, and future needs of the little 
ones. Submitted by Bill Coburn


JOSEPH JACK RAMSEY

11/1/56 – 12/29/14


“Three phrases that sum up Christmas 
are: Peace on Earth, Good Will to Men,

and Batteries Not Included.” 
Anonymous

Why is it that putting up Christmas 
decorations, even though they’re the 
same ones you’ve had for a million 
years, is so much more fun that taking 
them down. Also, why is it that the 
Christmas decorations that seem so 
few and so light as you take them out 
of the basement and up the stairs have 
doubled (like wire hangers) in size 
and tripled in weight and you can’t 
remember when on earth you carried 
all those up, said the Grinch who seems 
to unearth a bunch more of them every 
time she turns around.

 Did you get downtown to look at our 
Mayor’s Trophy prize winning, “I Think 
I Can!” float while it was on display 
in Kersting Court? It looked so great 
under construction and then as it went 
by on Channel 5’s telecast. But when we 
saw it up close and personal…just plain 
gorgeous. It was such a nice day to be outside 
and then seeing all the roses, the giraffes, the 
bear and the sock monkey. Delightful! Saw 
Rose Princesses Alexi Zate, Britney Stone 
and Kristine Kuhn looking very cute in their 
tiaras and jeans selling flowers out by the float 
to get a head start on next year’s float. Our 
princesses are not only lovely, but they are 
nice!

 We’re a week into the New Year and I’m 
actually keeping the resolution I made. OK, 
it’s only a week, but how are you doing with 
yours? What’s at the top of most people’s 
resolution list? Lose weight. Yep, year after 
year, we all want to lose weight. What else 
do we want to change about ourselves? More 
exercise? Less TV? More reading? Tackle the 
World’s Great Books? Meditate? There are 
so many things we can do to make ourselves 
crazy trying to remake ourselves. 

Exercise. Sigh… I don’t do enough of it and I 
know it. You probably don’t either. My best 
walking buddy and I do about half an hour 
most days, but I know that’s not enough. 
He would be totally thrilled if I’d bump 
the walk time up to more, but I’m a terrific 
excuse maker…It’s cold! It’s hot! But those 
are really lame and we’d both be better off 
with just a little more. For years we’ve talked 
about taking a walk in the evening but there’s 
something about it getting to be the end of 
the day when all one really wants to do is get 
into the jammies and not do anything more 
difficult than walking into the kitchen for… 
wait for it… not ice cream…not cookies…
no, we want another glass of Trader Joe’s 
sparkling water. 

 We get to the gym about once a week, 
which also isn’t enough. The world of serious 
exercise folks tell us that we need just as much 
resistance training as we do cardio. Weight 
training makes for stronger bones and all 
sorts of good stuff. But you can’t go to the 
gym till you do something with the bed-head 
hair, put some concealer on the bags under 
the eyes and, for pity’s sake, just a little blush 
so one doesn’t look dead. The walk – just put 
on the sweats, the jacket and the shoes and 
head out the door. 

 This is getting way too close to home! I’m 
actually going to have to act on this as I’ve 
written it down. OK, the world is my witness, 
I’m going to start walking further every time 
we go out the door. Even if it’s freezing? Yep, 
even then. Resolved! And so far, so good.

Here’s another resolution I made after 
reading Susan Henderson’s editorial in last 
week’s paper. If you missed it, here are a 
few of her thoughts that really struck me: 
If we want to make society better, we must 
start with ourselves. How about not making 
generalizations that disparage people who are 
different. Consider making a concentrated 
effort to see people as individuals instead 
of lumping them in with whatever group is 
making bad news currently. If we start with 
ourselves, we can diminish the amount of 
hatred that permeates the air. Here is her 
resolution, with which I wholeheartedly 
agree: Let’s all do better! Let’s start with 
ourselves, one person at a time. Let’s see if 
we can make love and respect spread that 
way. Let’s make 2015 the year when we 
passionately, as individuals work on real 
change.

 “Let there be peace on earth and let it begin 
with me.” Jill Jackson Miller and Sy Miller 
- 1955.

 

Happy New Year, dear Walking Sierra Madre 
friends. Hope to see you out and about in 
2015. 

Check out my book page on Amazon.com: 
Deanne Davis@Amazon.com


SIERRA MADRE GATEWAY COACH ROUTE CHANGE

The City of Sierra Madre in partnership with First Transit adjusted the Gateway Coach fixed 
route transportation line beginning January 5, 2015. In place of the previous Albertsons stop on 
the fixed transportation route, the Gateway Coach now makes a scheduled stop at the Ralphs in 
Hastings Ranch. The other stops along the route will remain the same.

The Gateway Coach operates Monday through Friday from 11:00am-1:30pm and stops at 
various locations throughout the City. The transportation service is offered at no cost for all 
ages. For more information on stop location and times, please contact the Community Services 
Department at 355-7135.

Sierra Madre Police Blotter

During the week of Sunday, December 28th, to 
Sunday, January 4th, the Sierra Madre Police 
Department responded to approximately 338 
calls for service.

Monday, December 29th

 At 6:39 am, Sierra Madre police responded 
to the Sierra Madre City Yard regarding 
a burglary investigation. Upon arrival, 
Officers were informed that the location was 
locked and secured on December 24th, and 
upon returning that morning, one of the 
garage door locks was missing. After a walk 
through was performed, it was determined 
nothing was missing from the garage. As 
Officers investigated the area further, they 
were contacted by another city employee 
who informed them two other garages 
had the locks cut off. Further investigation 
determined scrap metal and copper wiring 
had been stolen from the facility. The 
estimated value exceeded $1,000 in property 
loss. This case has been forwarded to the 
Detectives Bureau. 

 At 10:38 am, Sierra Madre police responded 
to the 300 block of North Lima St. to meet a 
citizen requesting assistance. Upon arrival, 
the subject informed Officers that beginning 
back in July, an unknown suspect gained 
access to her email account and shortly began 
to change the password to several emails, and 
social media accounts. The unknown suspect 
then began deleting her personal social media 
account. The subject took her computer in to 
be re-formatted, but the unauthorized access 
to her accounts continued. On December 
22nd, the unknown suspect gained access to 
her cellphone account and deactivated her 
service. The subject received several emails 
and messages from the unknown suspect 
stating they would wipe her computer clean of 
all information in January. No demands have 
been made by the unknown suspect. This 
case has been forwarded to the Detectives 
Bureau. 

Friday, January 2nd

 At 7:47 am, Sierra Madre police responded to 
the 300 block of North Cannon Dr. regarding 
a vehicle burglary. Officers were informed by 
the victim that the night prior, he had locked 
and secured his vehicle at around 9 pm, and 
the following morning he came out to his 
vehicle and noticed his driver’s side window 
had been smashed. The victim informed 
Officers a briefcase containing various tax 
paper work, check books, and medication 
was missing from the vehicle. This case has 
been forwarded to the Detectives Bureau. 

Saturday, January 3rd

 At 11:45 am, Sierra Madre police responded 
to the 400 block of West Sierra Madre Blvd. 
regarding a vehicle burglary. The victim 
informed Officers that, on December 26th, 
she came out to her vehicle and noticed 
several items were missing, and her glove box 
was left open. Because the victim was on her 
way out of town, she was unable to report 
the incident until she returned to town. The 
victim informed Officers she was unsure if she 
locked and secured her vehicle. A cell phone 
car charger, cell phone charger, a cell phone 
and a duffle bag containing various clothing 
items were taken from her vehicle. This case 
has been forwarded to the Detectives Bureau. 

Sunday, January 4th 

 At 10:15 am, Sierra Madre police responded 
to the 200 block of Olivera Lane regarding 
an attempted residential burglary. Upon 
arrival, Officers were informed by the victim 
that at around 9 am, she discovered the guest 
bedroom window open with the window 
screen pushed in. Further investigation 
revealed three of the resident’s gates were 
unlatched. Officers cleared the house and the 
victim stated there was no loss of property. 
The victim is believed to have been home 
when the incident occurred. This case has 
been forwarded to the Detectives Bureau. 

Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: 626.355.2737 Fax: 626.609.3285 Email: editor@mtnviewsnews.com Website: www.mtnviewsnews.com