Bernadine Arispe

Bernadine G. Arispe 1948 – 2024

Bernadine G. Arispe “Nina”, 76, died in Las Vegas, NV on December 10, 2024.

Born in Texas in 1948 to Juan and Maria Gonzalez and raised in Grand Rapids, MI.

A friend once described someone she lost as “a special person”, it was so heartfelt, and the expression was so beautiful that it has stuck with me. Bernadine G. Arispe “Nina” was indeed a very special person. Born in Texas and raised in Grand Rapids, Michigan with her three sister and five brothers where she would attend primary school, grow to be a teenager and work summers at a very young age. She would meet her husband over one summer in Michigan and move to Houston, TX where she would have their four children, Inez Jr., Monica, Fabian and Johnny. A hard-working mother working the night shift to contribute to the family she created, it wasn’t always easy. Attempting to keep the balance between motherhood and the need to be able to make ends meet proved to be difficult, but Nina was determined and steadfast and sacrificed to provide for her family. While raising her kids and maintain a home, there was never a time where she did not work, ends did not always meet but she tried her best down to the last penny at times making sure there was food on the table and mortgage and utilities were paid. There were times where she was trying to find loose change to buy a mop, or a broom or in some cases a piece of chocolate. Life was a struggle at times, but she had her family, children’s birthday celebrations and Easter celebrations, many Christmas’ and New Years with her husband and children, though life was not always easy the good times were great times. She would eventually lose her first husband at the age of 34 and become a single mom to four teenagers which was not an easy task. Rebellious, and as many children are, caught up in only their life experiences, children wanting freedom and coping with loss, it was a struggle to keep them together and continue to work even harder. Alone a lot, she leaned on her sisters and family, Tia Jaine who was not only her sister would also be her best friend. Nina shared everything with Jaine, and though they had ups and downs, arguments and disagreements, as sisters and best friends do, they always came back to each other always forgiving and always simply moved on in love. She also shared a closeness with sister Sylvia, the three sisters were close in proximity, though there were many brothers and sisters Jaine, Sylvia and Nina all lived in Texas which may have contributed to their closeness. As time passed and life moved forward, she would meet Herman Monroy, her husband of the last 38 years, and proceed to have her last child, Heriberto “Eddie” Monroy. Like life often does and always did for her, it offered Nina much happiness and many trials, she would lose her son Fabian Arispe at the age of 19 years old. Heartbroken with sorrow only losing a child can give a person, she continued to stay strong and raise Eddie, maintained her relationship and would eventually move to Mexico with Herman and Eddie for a few years. Through all her years she remained close with her parents, they would visit Texas annually and have multiple phones calls, daily, weekly, monthly … When her dad would visit, he would fix anything and everything that required fixing. From fixing her oven, which doubled as a heater, to working in the yard, he never sat still when he would visit her. Nina loved her Mother Maria Gonzalez like only a daughter loves her mother, and she loved her Father Juan Gonzalez as only a first-born daughter could love her dad, she lived them both with all her heart and soul. Nina, Herman and Eddie would end up living in Las Vegas where she lived until her passing on December 10, 2024. Her heart was broken when her sister Jaine passed as she was losing the confidant she spoke with every day, multiple times a day. She spent time with both her mother and father before their passing just a few months apart, she talked about them, though they were gone, every day until she passed herself. They were her heart; they were her parents, and she missed them and longed for them greatly. Nina worked as she always had, but she was eventually able to retire after many, many years of working. Finally able to enjoy what she had worked so hard for; Nina built a life she could be proud of and a beautiful home filled with things she loved. She loved jewelry and loved shopping on QVC. With multiple boxes delivered daily with Christmas ornaments, cleaners, vitamins, jewelry and whatever her heart desired, it was well earned and well deserved. She loved Christmas and she loved decorating. Furniture did not remain in the same place for long, and furniture did not remain the same for long. Even at her weakest times when she probably shouldn’t be lifting or moving anything, you would come home to find she had somehow moved the couch or hung a new photo. There were two dogs she raised, Wolfy, who lived to be 17 1/2 and was lovely and obedient and 100% a good boy, and then there is Simba who has proven to be a demon dog, a grouchy, crotchety Pekingese whom she still called for until the moment she left home, whether in pain or not feeling well at all, she called out his name and continued to feed him her food from her hospital bed, he could do no wrong in her eyes.

She was amazing and determined, she loved her family, she loved her children, and her sense of humor was second to none - she was strong and intelligent, and she was always, always a Lady. With everything she went through and all she accomplished, her happiness, pain and sorrows, milestones and everything in between, above all else, she was our mom, and we will love her forever.

Nina was preceded in death by son, Fabian Arispe; parents, Juan and Maria Gonzalez; sister, Jaine Hererra and brother, Fernando Gonzalez.

She is survived by daughter; Monica Arispe; sons, Inez Arispe Jr., Johnny Arispe and Heriberto Monroy; husband, German Monroy-Sanchez; grandchildren, Stephanie Bonilla, Louis Alaniz, Natalie Arispe, Inez Arispe, Fabian Arispe; great grandchildren, Louis Damien Alaniz, Savannah Bonilla and Ivannah Bonilla; sisters, Jesusa Torres, Sylvia Acosta (Bruno), Nora Contreras (Tony); brothers, Eloy Gonzalez, Enrique Gonzalez, Roberto Gonzalez (Sharon), Juan Gonzalez Jr. and Pedro Gonzalez “Pete”. She has many nieces, nephews, cousins and other extended family members, all whom she loved dearly.