This Is Who I Am

I am Karin K. Ramsay. In 5 words I am:

• Kreative,
• Happy,
• AttrActive,
• Teacher,
• Student.

Notice that these 5 words tell you WHO I Am rather than WHAT I DO because I have a passion that everyone should be able to tell you WHO they are in five words, no negative words allowed, five words that my friends agree and say, “Yes, those five words describe WHO you are.” Most of all, a person’s five words should describe “WHO” as “who”, not as “what I do”.

I am:

• Kreative, because I have that kind of mind, and my sister laughed, agreed and said, “And you probably spelled ‘creative’ with a ‘k’!”
•  Happy, because I choose to be “happy”.
•  AttrActive, because I am very “active”, which is a big part of the word “attractive”, something I would like to be.
• Teacher, because I like to share what I have learned.
•  Student. because a good “teacher” must be always a “student”.

I wear many hats.

• “PUBLISHER” is one of my hats, something “I do”. I am probably a “PUBLISHER” because it is in my blood: I am the daughter of what was called at the time of my birth, a “JOB PRINTER” and his wife who worked with him in his “print shop”. I was “raised in that print shop” where the aroma of printer’s ink was my favorite perfume. I was told that as a baby I slept in the carton made for shipping envelopes as long as the printing presses were running. When they quit singing, I awoke.
• I was taught by my father and allowed to run a real printing press when I was only 10 years old. Fortunately I learned to “throw the gear” and never got my hand caught while I was “feeding the press”.
• I learned to make a “Publisher’s Hat” in the print shop where everyone who was anyone wore a hat made out of a folded newspaper. I was never sure why; they just did. When they wanted a drink, they took a small plain sheet of paper and folded it the same way and made a paper cup so they could have some water.

Born a fifth generation Texan in Brownwood, Texas, schooled in Sweetwater, Texas, a graduate of Trinity University with a degree in psychology and Christian education, I married Jack Ramsay in 1951. After our two children finished college, I became known for what I had done as wife since marrying a Presbyterian minister, particularly in youth work, and was hired as certified Director of Church Education in Dallas, TX; Chapel Hill, NC; Bloomington, MN; and Green Bay, WI. During my years in North Carolina, Minnesota and Wisconsin, Jack became a “spouse trailer”, trading places as primary wage earner and following me, while he continued serving interim pastorates and writing books. We returned to Texas in 1997 where I have worked since that time as a publisher.

I have many other hats though I never have worn the hat I always resisted before the “women’s movement”, the hat some people wore when they called themselves, “just a housewife!”