Virginia Ramos, the Mission District’s “Tamale Lady,” died on Sept. 27.

Virginia Ramos, the Mission District’s “Tamale Lady”—known for passing out words of wisdom and homemade tamales to local bar crawlers—has died at the age of 65.

The San Francisco Medical Examiner confirmed Ramos died on Sept. 27 after decades of wheeling her cooler full of tamales around bars in the Mission District for hungry bar patrons.

Ramos became a staple in the Mission, SOMA and Castro bar scene after she emigrated from Jalisco, Mexico to San Francisco in the 1980s where she used her homemade tamales to support her seven children.

Illustration: Valeria Olguín

She saved countless people from hangovers and made everyone she spoke to feel loved. Although she was not around as much in the last few months, people were always in search of The Tamale Lady.

There was even an app developed in 2012 by software engineer Win Raguini, as well as a Twitter account devoted to keeping tabs on where Ramos was roaming around that day.

Her kindness to the people she knew, and to those she did not, was felt across the Mission and she was known for telling people “I don’t know you, but I love you.”

“It’s sad to know that she’s gone now,” said Amaury Rivera, who also moved to the Mission District in the 1980s. “I met her at some of the bars in the Mission in the ‘90s and she was always kind, very friendly. She was always giving you advice, she was always telling people to take care of themselves. She focused more on talking about us than her life. That’s the way she was.”

Ramos’s tamales gained more than just local attention. In 2013 she made headlines when the San Francisco Health Department banned her from selling her corn-husked treats in bars to locals, specifically Zeitgeist, because she was an unlicensed vendor.

This led to then-District 9 Supervisor David Campos, who oversaw the Mission District, to push for Ramos to get a brick-and-mortar tamaleria.

An Indiegogo fundraising page, started by Campos, was able to crowdsource $19,201 for a restaurant space at 2943 16th Street, but it was not enough. The Mission Housing Development Corporation then funded 100 percent of the build out and the restaurant was set to open its doors this April.

City officials took to Twitter to express their condolences after finding out about her passing.

“I’m heart-broken Virginia Ramos – the Tamale Lady – has passed. Virginia was an institution in bars in the Mission, Castro & SOMA,” California State Senator Scott Wiener tweeted. “We changed the law to legalize her business – selling tamales in bars – as part of our effort to allow home cooks to earn a living. RIP, Virginia.”

“Rest in peace #VirginiaRamos. Long live @TamaleLady! You will live in our hearts forever!” tweeted Campos.

Though no longer roaming the city, Ramos’s spirit and love for people will live on in the lives she has touched and the hungry stomachs she has fed.

“Viva La Tamale Lady!”