Maria F. Brookins, 51, of Peoria, passed away at 5:35 p.m. on Thursday, July 2, 2009, at home.
Maria was born in Palo Alto, CA on August 16, 1957, a daughter of Richard and Ida (Armentrout) Walz.
She is survived by her mother, Ida Irwin of Peoria; father, Richard Walz of Campbell, CA; brother, Michael Walz of Pittsburg, CA; and sisters, Kathy Mallory of El Sobrante, CA and Theresa McCaffrey of Chapel Hill, NC.
Maria graduated as a Registered Nurse from the Methodist School of Nursing in Peoria and was formerly employed in Illinois, Florida and California. While living in California, she loved walking on the beach in Monterey. She loved her nursing career and all of her patients.
Maria had an amazing creative talent and enjoyed flower gardening, painting pictures of flowers and writing poetry. She was joyful, had a fun-loving spirit and was very adventurous. She loved Harley-Davidson motorcycles and even tried parachuting…once. She landed between two power lines and decided that was enough!
She had a great love of dogs, especially her Max, Kelsey and Kayla, her German Shepherd mix.
After moving back to Peoria and being diagnosed, she joined the cancer support group at Illinois CancerCare.
She was a parishioner of St. Sharbel Catholic Church in Peoria, where a Memorial Mass will be held at a later date, with Fr. Faouzi Elia as celebrant. A private entombment will be at Resurrection Mausoleum in Peoria.
In lieu of flowers, Mass offerings may be made in Maria's memory to St. Sharbel Catholic Church in Peoria or to the Community of St. John in Princeville.
Funeral arrangements have been entrusted to Clary Funeral Home in Peoria.
You will be missed. Now you may rest for a while. With love your husband Milton
