Nina Arlene Robinson

Nina was born Martha Arlene Hermance in Farmington, N. Mexico to James Allen Hermance and Josie May Kitto (Dunagan) on March 2nd, 1925. Josie had been widowed from her first husband, William Kitto during his involvement in World War I, leaving one son, William Kitto Jr.

James, who worked as a cowboy and rangler, fathered Annie Hinton, Bill Honaker, Jerry Hermance, and Nina, and during the beginning of the Great Depression in 1928, he literally rode out of his family's life, abandoning Josie and their five children. Years later when Nina found some cousins on James' side of the family, they were just as mistified and reported that his family did not have contact with him for the rest of his life.

Forced by her dire financial circumstances to make decisions that were best for her children, Josie decided to adopt out most of the children to families in the surrounding communities. Nina (Martha) was adopted at around age 3 by an older couple in Cortez, A.B. (Arthur) and Nellie McClellan, who had already raised several boys but longed for a girl. She was re-named Nina, and lived with them in several Southwest Colorado communities as she grew up. She finished high school in Cortez in 1942. She attended Business School in Grand Junction, CO after high school, and when she finished, she headed to Denver to find work building B-17s and B-24s for the War effort. She was fond of her memories as a "Rosie the Riviter", a term used to describe women who built most of the warplanes and other armaments of World War II. She kept contact with some of the women of a group who called themselves "Leary's Missing Links". She had periodic contact with her birth mother Josie throughout her life, but never returned to live with her.