Obituary

Jennifer Kho

COSTA MESA -- Marie Maples, a longtime resident and an active

volunteer, died of ovarian cancer Sunday. She was 78.

Mrs. Maples moved to California from Tennessee in the 1950s and moved

to Costa Mesa in 1962. She served as a Costa Mesa Senior Center board

member for 12 years, an advisory board member for the Fairview

Developmental Center’s Foster Grandparent-Senior Companion Program for

more than 14 years and the College Park Homeowners Assn. for more than 12

years.

She served on numerous committees, volunteered for the Costa Mesa

Police Department, and received the Woman of the Year Award from the

Chamber of Commerce and the Mayor’s Award from former Mayor Gary Monahan.

“She gave a lot of time as a volunteer,” said Helen Redding, also a

former senior center board member. “She was dedicated to being a

volunteer. I don’t know how long it had been since she had done any work

she was paid for.”

Friends and family members said they will remember her giving spirit

and consideration for others.

“It seemed like if anyone asked her to do something, regardless of

what she had on her plate, she would always find time to do it,” said

Barbara Panian, a neighbor and a good friend. “She was really a people

person. You would see her scooting all around in her little red car. If

she heard someone was sick, she would pop in to see them without a qualm.

Even toward the end, she always had two or three people visiting her. I

knew her a long time, and she was always very caring and very

appreciative of anything others did for her.”

Hank Panian, Barbara Panian’s husband, said Maples’ face always

lighted up when they brought her flowers from their yard and added that

Mrs. Maples had extreme graciousness and poise, even when she was

debating a hot issue.

“When she was president of the association, she got caught up in all

sorts of debates, but I’ve never seen her lose her cool,” he said. “She

was a grand lady. When her family left home, I think she adopted Costa

Mesa as her family because she became active in so many ways. And her

charm and manners were always pleasant. I think if she hit her finger

with a hammer, she would say, ‘Oh! Look what I did!’ whereas I would come

out with other words that my grandchildren would shudder at.”

Examples of how she supported others stretch past her death, said Mike

Maples, Mrs. Maples’ son.

When he was searching for her will, he said he found a letter from her

addressed to everybody she knows.

“It made me break up,” he said. “It said not to worry about her and so

forth. She was always more concerned about others than herself, even to

the last second. She knew she was dying, and yet she was concerned about

our health and how we were going to weather her death. I had to try to

convince her I would survive this, even though it would be tough, and

that she didn’t have to stay here and suffer to take care of me. And I’m

55. I couldn’t ask for a better mother or a better friend.”

Copies of the letter will be distributed at her memorial, scheduled

from 2 to 4 p.m. Sunday at her home.

The surviving family, made up of Mike Maples, wife Susan Maples, and

their son Michael Russell Maples, asked that Mrs. Maples’ address not be

printed.

“If they don’t know her address, they don’t belong here,” he said.

“Everyone she knew was that close to her. I don’t know anybody who didn’t

love her. I learned from her that, in order to make friends, you have to

be genuinely interested in that other person -- in being their friend, in

knowing about them and caring about things they care about. She had a

tremendous talent for that. I don’t care if you were a drunk lying in a

gutter. She would go out there, see if you were all right and make

friends with you.”

The family requests that any flowers or donations be sent to the Costa

Mesa Senior Center, 695 W. 19th St., Costa Mesa.

For more information, call (949) 645-2356.