Bernadette Flores

Bernadette Flores, a long-time resident of Albuquerque, passed away on Sunday, September 7, 2025.

The second child of Benny and Florentina (Padilla) Flores, she was born October 12, 1947 in Las Vegas, New Mexico where her father was attending New Mexico Highlands University following his military service in World War II. She attended elementary school in Puerto de Luna, New Mexico where her father taught school. Her favorite memories of school included the daily Pledge of Allegiance, singing America the Beautiful and O Fair New Mexico, the school lunches prepared by Mrs. Esther Moncayo, the Easter Egg hunts out on the llano, the yearly school trips to the Pecos Theater in Santa Rosa for a special movie and the 4H club sponsored by Mrs. Guadalupe Padilla. The kindness of Mrs. Moncayo and Mrs. Padilla were always remembered with fondness by Bernadette. Also remembered with affection were the special schoolmates who attended school with her in PdL. The school served prefirst through eighth grades. It had only four rooms and three (sometimes four) teachers. Each classroom held two or three combined grades. Her sixth-grade class shared a classroom with seventh and eighth graders.

In the fall of 1959 the school district began bussing the seventh and eighth students to the junior high school ten miles away in Santa Rosa. Bernadette rode the bus for two months until the family moved to Santa Rosa in October 1959. With the move came new friendships that included the families on the hill: the Sextons, Dodges, Quintanas, and the Delgados. Summer afternoons were spent swimming at Park Lake where the Sexton twins taught her how to swim. Sunday afternoons meant a new movie at the Pecos Theater. These were exciting times, but she missed living near her grandparents.

Her grandmother Paublita used to braid her hair on schooldays and make her “Shirley Temple” curls for Sunday Mass. She learned how to sew and make tortillas in her grandmother Paublita’s kitchen and visited daily with her grandfather A. J. Padilla in his country store where a free Hershey bar or ice cream were always offered to her. At night, she listened to stories from her grandmother Leticia. Another teller of “cuentos” was Pina who was the caretaker of the Catholic Church. Grandma Leticia often talked of her father Alexander and the family history. An often-told story was Billy the Kid’s last Christmas meal at Alexander’s house in Puerto de Luna. The other guests were Pat Garrett and his posse who were escorting Billy and his gang to Las Vegas, N.M. after he was captured at Stinking Springs near Taiban, N.M in 1880. This occurred before Grandma Leticia was born. Another favorite story (or complaint) was how Puerto de Luna was the county seat until it was moved to Santa Rosa with the coming of the railroad.

The fall of 1961 brought more changes with the beginning of high school. More new friends as the Catholic school students now attended public school. Typical high school activities: football games, basketball games, sock hops after the games, cokes with friends at the drug store at the end of the school day, more cokes with friends at the Del Rey cafe after the Lions’ basketball game, listening to KOMA (Dale Wehba the deejay), bus rides to out-of-town basketball games, the heartbreaking final game of the 1965 basketball state tournament, Junior Carnival, Homecoming Parade, Homecoming Dance, Senior Prom, senior trip to Carlsbad Caverns.

Bernadette held various jobs after graduating from Santa Rosa High School and the UNM Anderson School of Management. One of her favorite jobs was the three years at the Club Cafe as a sales clerk in the curio shop. Her fellow employees always held a special place in her memories as did her employers Philip Craig and Floyd and Jeri Shaw. Who can ever forget those famous sourdough biscuits?

Bernadette was not world traveler although she did visit Guadalajara, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, V.I. and many states. Yet, her favorite places to visit were the St. James Hotel and the Philmont Ranch and Villa in Cimarron, and the town of Lincoln in Lincoln County, NM. Out-of-state favorites included Tombstone and Mt. Rushmore. An annual round trip on the Railrunner from Albuquerque to Belen to view the trees along the Bosque substituted for New England in the fall.

Bernadette enjoyed crossword puzzles, reading (mostly western novels, history, biographies, economist Thomas Sowell, authors Jane Austen, Thomas Hardy, Elmore Leonard among others.)

Preceding her in death were her parents Benny and Florentina (Padilla) Flores, paternal grandparents Cipriano and Paublita (Montoya) Flores, maternal grandparents A.J. and Leticia (Grzelachowski) Padilla, brother David Flores, a special nephew Steve Flores, several uncles and aunts including Victor Flores, Arcelia Flores Abeyta, Adela Flores Espinosa, Beatrice Flores Salazar, Amalia Flores Dodge, Leontina Flores Chavez, Manuela Flores, Josefina Flores, Honorato Flores, Alberto Flores, Alex Padilla, Carlos Padilla, Louis Padilla, Perla Padilla Santiago, and Corrine Padilla Burns.

Surviving her are her siblings Dan (Lupita) Flores, Nick(Lissie) Flores, Herman (Maxine) Flores, Billy Flores, Consuelo Flores, John (Rosemary) Flores, Rick (Caroline) Flores, Susanna (Cele) Rodriguez, Tom (Marilyn) Flores, Monica (Tom) Lopez, Renee (Patrick) Marquez, her Uncle Filomeno Flores and his wife Erlinda, a special cousin Yolanda Flores Sena along with many special nieces, nephews and cousins.

Visitation will be Friday, September 12, 2025 from 1-5PM at Chavez Funeral Home in Santa Rosa.

Recitation of The Most Holy Rosary is scheduled for Friday, September 12, 2025 at 7PM at Nuestra Señora Del Refugio Catholic Church in Puerto De Luna.

Mass of Christian Burial will take place on Saturday, September 13, 2025 at 11AM at Nuestra Señora Del Refugio Catholic Church, with Father Jacob Romero celebrating the service.

Interment will follow at Nuestra Señora Del Refugio Cemetery with Bernadette’s nephews serving as Pallbearers; Ricky Flores, Joshua Flores, Cody Marquez, Kurt Flores, Ben Flores, Thomas Lopez, Santiago Flores and Marco Flores. Her great-nephews will be serving as Honorary Pallbearers.

Services are under the direction of Chavez Funeral Home of Santa Rosa, 923 S. Third St., Santa Rosa, NM 88435. 575-472-3369.