| The Romero family is originally from the state of Zacatecas in Mexico. Representative Romero's father, Ramon Romero, Sr., came to this country as a migrant farm worker in the mid 1960's. In 1969, with wife Maria de Refugio and their two children, Alejandra and Juan, they moved to the Northside of Fort Worth. They finally settled on Avenue D in the Polytechnic area of Fort Worth in 1973 where Ramon Romero Jr. was born, along with Jose and Cathy. Today the family home is still on Avenue D and all of the children remain in Tarrant County.
At a very young age, Representative Romero was always looking for odd jobs to make his own spending money, given that there wasn't much to go around in a family of 10. Later he would wash cars on East Rosedale, and worked his first real job at Ashburn's Ice Cream Parlor. In high school, he discovered his talents in telemarketing while working for health and life insurance agents setting appointments.
Representative Romero, not much different than his parents, started his family at a young age having twins, Lindsay and Lauren, then Giovanni, all before graduating high school. While he did attend Tarrant County College, he had mouths to feed and decided to enter the workforce. He then left college, attained his irrigation license and started his first business. A year later he started his pool business, A-Fast Tile & Coping. By age 25, A-Fast had over 60 employees, many who were from his neighborhood and today, Representative Romero still owns A-Fast Tile & Coping and also owns Stone Mason Supply, along with the Ramon Romero Corporation.
In the mid 90's Representative Romero helped form the first neighborhood association in his mother's neighborhood, just blocks from his own home. He worked with the Fort Worth Independent School District and City of Fort Worth Housing Department staff to ensure neighbors would be properly compensated for their homes when the district built baseball fields at Poly High School. This involvement is what sparked his passion for public service.
It was this ability to work with city officials and his community that earned a city appointment by then Councilman, Ralph McCloud. He later became Chair of the Planning Commission under Councilwoman Kathleen Hicks. Representative Romero was also a member of the Zoning Commission, the Air Quality Task Force Committee, the Golf Advisory Committee and various master plan committees for his area parks. He won the 2014 Democratic Primary for District 90 in Fort Worth against an 18-year incumbent, becoming the first Hispanic State Representative in Tarrant County history.
Representative Romero is a well-respected father, businessman, and community leader who believes that success is measured not by how much you have received, but by how much you have given. |