Maria was born in 1939 just before the end of the Civil War in Jerez de la Frontera, Andalucia, Spain. As Spaniards often say, only things made before the war were of any good quality and she was a very fine lady. She was lively, witty, intelligent, and generous with a fierce capacity to love all who were lucky enough to capture her heart. As our father commented often, she could have a scintillating conversation with a broomstick. Maria was the 6th child of a family with 8 children, 3 girls and 5 boys. Her father, Rafael Diez y Zurita, was a forward thinking civil engineer and her mother, Pilar Ponce de León y De las Heras, was a lovely lady and the origin of all artistic talent in subsequent generations.

When our parents met, my father started flirting with her in English, assuming she didn’t speak it. A polyglot who by the end of her life spoke over 5-6 languages, she briskly put him in his place and he was hooked. Not terribly athletic, Maria was a voracious reader, gardener, and an artist who enjoyed creating faux surfaces and designing interiors. These were talents she put to great use in launching her own business serving embassies, private homes, restaurants and other clients when they lived in DC. Always the epitome of flexibility, Maria spent most of her marriage supporting her husband’s career by hosting marvelous dinners, traveling with him on business trips and moving the household of two daughters and a dog wherever they needed to go.

In their lifetimes, they made eight transatlantic moves, and six continental ones. There was a great deal to keep track of and manage, all of which she did in addition to attending to her daughters’ needs. She was never shy about advocating for time for them to follow ant trails or to watch clouds go by (an activity she enjoyed until the end of her life). She also fought against reading lists with books that held traumatic elements as she felt it was her duty to preserve her daughters’ innocent childhoods for as long as possible.

Maria was an avid supporter of women’s rights, attending marches and volunteering for Planned Parenthood. She also volunteered regularly for Meals on Wheels and hospice patients. She proudly declared that when she died, she would be donating her body to science. Her matter of fact attitude and wise counsel was sought by many confronting challenges in life.

Alzheimer’s, along with many other illnesses, cursed the end of her life but she never forgot our faces and would always squeeze us tightly, even at the very end. She is survived by her daughters, Allegra Gilbert Helms and Victoria Gilbert and her sons-in-law, Joe Helms and Christopher Maksymowicz as well as her sister, Africa, her brother, Rafael. She also doted on her grandchildren, Marisol Helms and Casimir Maksymowicz, and many nieces and nephews and their families in Spain and France who adored her.

In lieu of flowers, please consider making an online contribution to Planned Parenthood here or Meals on Wheels here.

For more information about memorial services, to send condolences, or any further information contact Hill & Wood Funeral Services.