A life lived in service
Taos Pueblo elder and Army veteran Eloisa Bernal Apachito dies at 102
When Taos Pueblo elder Eloisa Bernal Apachito passed away Oct. 10, she left behind a legacy of strength, resilience and hope.
Commonly known as “Aunt Elsie,” Apachito was born Feb. 20, 1918, to Joe and Merina Romero Bernal, just two years after the United States government, at the direction of President Theodore Roosevelt, took possession of Blue Lake, the tribe’s most sacred site, as part of the newly established Kit Carson National Forest.
The year 1918 was also when the so-called Spanish Flu pandemic infected one third of the world’s population at the time. It killed 50 million people over a two year period.
And, at 102 years old when she passed, Apachito was Taos Pueblo’s oldest military veteran, having served two years in the Women’s Army Corps during World War II.
These touchstones in her life connected Apachito to the world from her tiny village in Northern New Mexico. But they would not really define her. What did was her enormous heart and her commitment to help those who needed it.
Her daughter, Carla Apachito, said that was partly the reason her mom joined the service. In fact, almost the entire family joined the military. While serving, Elsie became a surgical orthopedic nurse, helping to rebuild the shattered bodies of American soldiers brought in from overseas. After working for a time in New York, she desired to be near her home and family and learned of a position at the Santa Fe Indian Hospital. “That’s where she met my dad, Frank Apachito,” Carla said. This was in the late 1940s.
“My dad was working for the Navajo Reservation. In those days, they had a program where the children, even if they were past 18, there was a law that they all had to be educated,” Carla said. “So, he would go out to the Navajo rez and bring people in to the Indian school there. And so, that’s where they met, because my mom was working at the sanatorium there (adjacently located on the grounds). From there, they transferred to Magdalena and they opened a brand new dormitory for the Alamo [Navajo Reservation] people, which was my dad’s reservation there.”
After working with the children of Alamo for many years, the couple transferred to the Albuquerque Indian School in the late 1960s. “That’s where my mom found her niche in working with the young ladies there at the Kiva Hall and developing some really beautiful ways of incorporating everyone to teach their traditional ways of life as well as encouraging kids to be involved in certain things that she knew would benefit them.”
She retired from Albuquerque Indian School after giving 34 years in civil service.
That’s when they moved back to Taos Pueblo, where she took care of family members who needed her help. “My mom was a caretaker. She was known for that in our community,” Carla said. In addition, those who live in the village must follow a traditional way of life, and this is where Elsie felt right at home. “She was a wonderful teacher,” she added.
Elsie grew up with siblings Reycita Jiron, Paul Bernal, Louis Bernal, Tony Bernal, Emily Bernal and Carpio, “but he died when he was 8 or 9,” Carla said. “And she [took care of] every one of them.” Carla said before they moved to Taos, her folks used to make a point to bring Christmas gifts every year for all the kids in the family. “I remember one of my aunts saying, ‘Here comes Uncle Frank and Aunt Elsie, it’s Christmastime!’ And, that’s just how they felt about my parents.” Frank died in 1992.
Elsie Apachito was also a staunch Democrat, who wanted deeply to be able to vote in this year’s election. She was also great friends with Congressman Ben Ray Lujan. “She believed that everybody had a right to vote.” Patriotic to the core, she always attended Memorial Day and Veterans Day ceremonies at the Pueblo, sometimes sitting with fellow veteran Tony Reyna, a survivor of the Bataan Death March.
This was also evident in her tireless work to help return Blue Lake back to Taos Pueblo, an effort that consumed her brother, Paul Bernal, who regularly traveled to Washington, D.C., to meet with lawmakers and officials. It was Paul who figured prominently
standing behind President Richard Nixon when he signed legislation returning Blue Lake back to Taos Pueblo on Dec. 15, 1970.
“She was so excited” when Paul sent a Western Union telegram telling her the good news.
Earlier this year as the COVID19 pandemic began looming on the horizon, Elsie spoke about having been through the Spanish Flu pandemic when she was a small child. She said she didn’t mind that her doors would have to be closed to any visitors, because at her age, she couldn’t take the risk. As the months wore on, age began taking its toll on a life lived for others.
“We were home alone by ourselves when she left me,” Carla said. “She was the most amazing woman. She never complained … She quietly went to sleep, Oct. 10, no drama, we didn’t have that. She was so beautiful, so wonderful, so kind. She just passed in such a beautiful way. She just took a simple little breath and went on her way.”