‘She is one of a kind’

The day before Councilwoman Marsha Ramos was to become mayor for the first time, her father asked if he could help out around the house.

“I asked him, ‘Could you go plant this flat of marigolds under the trees in the front yard?’” Ramos said. “He’s digging around and he finds this ring that ended up belonging to my husband’s mother.”

No one was sure how the ring ended up underground, but the inscription looked prophetic: “First Lady.”

“It was a very serendipitous moment,” said Ramos, who lives in her husband’s childhood home, displaying the ring. “Look at it, the ring is a circle. All of this has come full circle.”

And, in more ways than one, it has. She’s the girl next door who married her high school sweetheart, whose first job was as a waitress at DeBell Golf Course and then as a work trainee for the Burbank Park and Recreation Department.

Ramos, who went on to become chairwoman of the Park and Recreation Board, is stepping down from the Burbank City Council after serving two terms, and twice as mayor.

Her going-away celebration, the theme of which is “Back to Business,” is Thursday at DeBell Golf Course.

“Everything has come full circle for me, and when it comes full circle, there is that knowing that you are feeling complete, and that it’s time to move on to a new chapter in life,” she said. “I ran eight years ago on the premise of balance — balance the economy, the environment and the social concerns of the community.

“I’ve worked very hard to make sure those major issues were addressed appropriately, and that we always had some sort of balance. When I took a look at my personal life, I saw that this is the time for me to balance. I have a family and a business, and so it’s time to kind of shift things back in that direction.”

But friends and family agree that it won’t be easy for Ramos, 51, to tamp down her community involvement. As mayor from 2004 to 20005, and 2007 to 2008, she averaged 50 events, meetings and personal appearances per month, they said.