Helen E. Maze

Helen died Saturday, March 23, 2013 under the loving care of Good Samaritan Village in Prescott. She was born April 7, 1919 in Detroit, Michigan; the daughter of John and Helen Fay. Helen was 93 years old. Helen’s mother died when Helen was only 18 months old, leaving Helen to be raised by her father and grandparents until Helen was 6 years old when her father married Cecilia Bonk. Helen then had a wonderful mother too. She was the beloved widow of Jack Maze. One cannot think of either Helen or Jack without thinking of the other. Theirs was a marriage made in heaven as each year they loved each other more throughout 66 years of marriage. They met in Winterhaven when Jack asked Helen to dance, however, Helen had seen Jack dancing with a married woman earlier. When he asked her for a date she said no and continued to say no even when she started working at the base where he was stationed. But young Lt. Maze kept asking her, and finally one of his friends set Helen straight and told her Jack wasn’t married, and the rest is history. Jack and Helen were on their way to San Francisco when they made a stop in Phoenix. Jack went to visit friends at the Arizona Republic newspaper. Later that day Jack asked Helen if she minded spending some time in Phoenix, as he had been offered a job at the Republic. They never moved to San Francisco. When they built their retirement home in the mountains above Prescott in Pinehurst, Jack made sure that every room had big picture windows as Helen was claustrophobic. Her father never wanted an artist in the family but when Helen told Jack she wanted to paint he told her that there was nothing that she couldn’t do and promptly went out and bought her a big canvas. Helen stared at the canvas for over a year until she picked a brush and started to paint. She soon found that she loved working in water colors and painting the beautiful flower images that she carried in her head, as well as fun cats and frogs. She was a great hostess and their many friends remember the wonderful parties at the Maze’s home. Helen maintained long lasting friendships with friends from Phoenix who still visited her at Good Samaritan. She loved the fact that the kids, as she called the staff at Good Sam, all shared their loves and hard times with her. Helen was a good listener. A photo of one of the kid’s cat hung in her room. One of Helen’s closest friends and care giver was Connie Wreath whom she met on Secretaries Day. Jack was the head of the Groom Creek Fire Department and Connie was his secretary. Jack convinced Helen to go with him as his personal secretary when he took Connie to lunch in celebration of the day. Helen said that Connie walked into the restaurant with a big bouquet of flowers and from then on she became as close as a daughter to them. Helen is survived by her daughter, Helen (Ken) Bennett, granddaughters; Letitia (Doug), Cheri, great grandchildren; Krista, Jack and also long time friend and caregiver, Connie Wreath.