Casso, Ramiro Raul, 1922-

Dr. Ramiro Raul Casso, physician, educator, and civil rights advocate, was born August 4, 1922 in the Buenos Aires Colonia in Laredo, Texas. At the age of thirteen, Casso and his three brothers spent the summer months working as city garbage collectors in Freer, Texas. Living in a tent and cooking their own meals, Casso and his brothers made one dollar a day, and only went home to Laredo on Saturdays. The following year, Casso and his family moved to Houston, where Ramiro sold newspapers on street corners to help his parents put food on the table. It was during this period in his life that Casso became determined to go to college and become a "professional man."

In 1939, at the age of 17, Casso enrolled at Texas A&M University, in College Station, Texas, from which he graduated in 1943 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Mechanical Engineering. Immediately following his graduation, Casso enlisted in the United States Army Reserve, where he served overseas during World War II as an Anti-Aircraft Artillery Captain. Casso was honorably discharged at the conclusion of the war in 1946, and returned to Laredo where he spent the next two years working as an engineer for the International Boundary and Water Commission. During this time, Casso met Emma Laurel and in 1949, they were married at the First Baptist Church of Laredo.

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