Angelina Ortega Ramsay

Obituary: Angelina Ramsay

Angelina Ramsay née Ortega, a professional bowler on the Ladies Pro Bowlers Tour (LPBT), died at 69 on June 1, 2020, at her Poway home in San Diego County where she lived for 45 years. She died of metastatic breast cancer.

Angelina bowled live on ESPN in the final rounds of the 1992 LPBT Hammer Eastern Open in Baltimore. She was the favorite to win, leading the tournament until lane conditions famously caught up with her.

“Angelina Ramsay went 8-0 in match play and jumped from 18th to first after four rounds,” reported the Chicago Tribune on October 13, 1992. Her opponents included Carol Gianotti, Leanne Barrette, and Tish Johnson—all have since been inducted into the Professional Women’s Bowling Association (PWBA) Hall of Fame. Angelina finished in 4th place, only 116 pins behind Johnson and nearly tied with Stacy Rider.

After moving to San Diego in December 1975, someone asked her, “Do you know how to bowl?” She replied, “Of course!” But she didn’t, and in her haste to make new friends, she launched her pro career in 1976 at Clairemont Bowl. By 1985, she was named Bowler of the Year by the United States Bowling Congress. Her career average was 212 or higher, including many 300 and 800 series games. She never had a coach, but she coached other bowlers, San Diego Chargers and San Diego Padres athletes, and local dignitaries such as a San Diego police chief and the wife of a San Diego mayor.

She recalled being a “tomboy” for much of her early life in the Philippines, climbing trees and fighting boys. Her mother was a dressmaker, but her father was a boxer turned guerrilla fighter during World War II. After the war, he served as the Provincial Postmaster in Luzon. She remembered that her family home, having the only TV in the neighborhood and food for everyone, was a pillar of her community—before the dictator Ferdinand Marcos, seeking to punish his political enemies, seized their property.

Taking after her father, Angelina trained in martial arts, achieving a black belt in judo, and then at 21, the oldest of six siblings, she was the first and only Ortega child to immigrate to the United States. Two years later, in 1974, she married the love of her life in Maryland. She became a naturalized citizen and proud American in 1979, a mother in 1980, and a mother of two in 1986. She also spent 16 years with the United States Postal Service in clerk and supervisory roles.

Angelina is survived by her husband of 46 years, Leigh Ramsay; her daughter, Leilani Sigel, and son-in-law, Ryan Sigel; her son, Morgan Ramsay; her brothers, Rogelio Ortega and Buenaventura Ortega; her sister, Lealinda Ortega; her brothers-in-law, Paul Ramsay, Craig Ramsay, and Bruce Ramsay; her sister-in-law, Sue Bly; and many nieces and nephews across the United States and in the Philippines.

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