Stella Salas Bingochea

FLORENCE - Stella Salas Bingochea, 76, of Florence died on Aug. 5, 2015, at Florence Hospital at Anthem.

Visitation will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at Assumption Catholic Church, with rosary recited at 10:30. Funeral Mass will be celebrated at 11 by the Rev. Dale Branson. 

Mrs. Bingochea was born on March 19, 1939, in Morenci and was a daughter of Guillermo and Carmen Salas. She grew up there and graduated from Morenci High School and Good Samaritan Nursing School in Phoenix. She married Manuel S. Bingochea on Jan. 20, 1962. She worked as a registered nurse for 38 years at Magma Hospital, Pinal County Hospital, Nursing Home and Health Department, Florence and Coolidge schools. 

She was devoted to her family and enjoyed making tamales, watching Lifetime movies, making and painting ceramics and talking to her family and friends on the phone for  hours. She spent her retirement years volunteering in the Florence community and advocating for friends and family. She loved spending time with her family and especially her great-grandchildren. She was a loving, spiritual and positive woman with strong Catholic faith who always put the needs of others before her own.

Survivors include two sons, Antonio L. "Tony" and Manuel Joseph Bingochea Jr. of Florence; a brother, Gonzalo "John" Salas of California; four grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren. She was preceded in death by her husband; a sister, Connie Salas; two brothers, Jose "Bill" and Gabriel Salas; and a grandson, Manuel Bingochea III.

J. Warren Funeral Services, Cole & Maud Coolidge Chapel is in charge of arrangements.