Beloved mother, grandmother and friend, our Nina has passed away peacefully at home, has been released from illness and dementia, has said goodbye to all the people she dearly loved, and has departed this earth to sing with the Choir Invisible. The daughter of Emilio Domingo Lopez de Lopez and Maria Concepción (Concha) Vilor de Galban, Nina was born in Elko, Nevada, the youngest in her family which included sister Maria Amparo Lopez and revered brothers Romano Lopez and Albert Lopez of loving memory.

Nina — the strong, capable, big-hearted woman who raised two children of her own, tragically and courageously buried a third, and later helped raise three boys on a California cattle ranch — enjoyed a long, full life, was cherished as matriarch by both her families and was a devoted friend and mentor to many over the decades of her life. She was a generous, warm, outgoing person, who attracted many people into her sphere with her charm, wit, and personality. Fluent in Spanish and English and the life of any party, Nina was never at a loss for words but everyone loved her because she also knew how to listen and was ever a loyal friend, a valued confidant, and a voice of experience and wisdom.

After her stellar spell as a student and well-liked classmate in Elko schools, she graduated from Elko High School in 1945 and stayed in touch with dear childhood friends throughout her life. In May 1948 she married Ocie Leonard Holley and not long after came son Bryan, daughter Nancy, and son Mark who died at age four.
With a lifetime of career experience, Nina also demonstrated competence and reliability in the world of business, working as a young woman in Elko for the Union Pacific Railroad, at the Elko County Court House, and later for the U.S. Forest Service. When she moved to Reno and then San Francisco after her divorce, she developed many friends among her colleagues at the bank and retail jobs which she excelled at.

It was in San Francisco when she lived on Telegraph Hill that an Elko friend introduced her to William (Bill) Nelson Cumming, Jr., a cattle rancher, a spark ignited, one thing led to another, and he proposed. Nina accepted, they were married on July 3, 1971 at the LE Ranch in southern Monterey County, and they became a wonderful, happy couple. Watching the two play dominos was great theater and often ended with Bill winning and smiling, while Nina furiously swept the dominos to the floor. Nina's new life on the ranch as the step-mother to John, Joe, and Andy, Bill's young sons, was another challenge she met with strength and courage as she had every other, and the boys who had tragically lost their mother discovered over time that Nina's big heart only wanted to encourage each of them. The family flourished for many years until Bill lost a long, brave battle with cancer after which Nina, with him every step, became the family anchor.
Beyond these particulars, it's impossible to fully capture Nina in just these few words. But in more personal terms . . . If Nina was your mother, she loved you unconditionally and always urged you (and expected you) to be and become your best.

If Nina was your grandma, she had the softest arms and lap to sit on and always found a special way to talk with you or read you a funny book.
If Nina was a friend from childhood, she was loyal and faithful, never let you go, and always kept in touch with you.

If you were a family friend of Nina's, she always remembered every good deed you'd done for her or her family, always made a point of visiting you, always welcomed you into her home, and then always asked the sensitive questions that revealed that she understood you and that she'd listened to you the last time you visited.

If you were a friend later in life or her work colleague, you knew Nina as a smart, funny, sassy woman who stood up for herself. You watched her back in the Sixties and witnessed that by her actions she became a role model of equality for all women and later in life a mentor to her own daughter, daughters-in-law, and granddaughters as well as all the young women she worked with.

If you were lucky to be in her two families, Nina bought you exactly the right birthday or Christmas card and a gift that was always somehow perfect for you.
And if you were anyone in Nina's life, you inevitably received some barbs and zings from La Bruja and felt the Scorpio wit of a master linguist. She delighted in her own humor and was quick to appreciate every kind of joke, pun or absurdity. Outspoken, volatile, direct, sensitive, and eccentric, Nina held court in her recliner during her forty years at the LE Ranch and everyone in the family knew that saying hello to Nina was the first task you needed to take care of when you arrived at the ranch. A classic movie buff who easily identified almost every actor in old movies and Westerns, a great lifelong lover of books and reading with an enquiring, intelligent mind — Nina was also always right on top of current events and loved to dialog and debate with you, freely sharing her opinions that were always interesting and never subtle.

Nina will be remembered by her son Bryan Holley (Nancy) and daughter Nancy McCune (Terry); her sons Bill Cumming (Veeda), John Cumming (Connie), Joe Cumming (Kristi), and Andy Cumming (Tami); daughter Peggy Hebert (Bob) and will be recalled with love by all her grandchildren: Amber Lichens, Elena Ragner, Janelle Cumming Gephart, Sean Cumming, Royce Cumming, Brenna Cumming, Katrina Cumming, Jared Cumming, Nolan Cumming, Gunnar Cumming, Scott Hebert and Greg Hebert. She will also be held in memory by her many nieces, nephews, inlaws, outlaws and treasured friends.

The families would like to offer many thanks (¡muchas gracias!) to all the kind and devoted people, nurses and staff of Windchime and Butte Home Health in Chico, CA for their careful care and understanding for Nina over these last years and months, and also to Robert and Geneva Eddington and the staff of Eddington Funeral Home in King City, CA and Mike Sims and the staff at Burns Funeral Home in Elko, NV for all their help in services to honor Nina.

A celebration of Nina's life will be held at Eddington Funeral Home on Friday, June 3, 2016. The family will host Visitation from 2 - 4 pm and the Service will be from 4 - 5 pm. Interment will be in Elko, Nevada.