In loving memory of Maria Geertruida Veltri
On Sunday, December 6, 2020, Maria Geertruida Veltri, loving wife (recently widowed) to Enrico Veltri and mother of three children, passed away at the age of 77, after battling pancreatic cancer.
Maria was born May 15, 1943 to Arie Kroon and Commerijntje Wouters in Alphen Aan Den Rijn, The Netherlands. Welcomed by her brother Arie, their family grew with the additions of sisters Tine, Trudy, and Wil.
Maria’s early childhood in the Netherlands was marked by the difficulties of World War II. Her father worked for the Resistance – when German soldiers came looking for him, her mother would hide baby Maria under the floorboards, so she would not be taken as collateral against her father.
At the age of 16, Maria attended nursing school in Leiden. Soon after graduating in May of 1964, she relocated to America to pursue her nursing career, working in labor and delivery.
While living in Binghamton, New York, she joined a ski club for young professionals, where she met Enrico Veltri. Despite her vastly better skiing ability, she was charmed; they fell in love and were married April 22, 1967.
Maria continued working as a nurse as they moved to Syracuse, Schenectady and Dobbs Ferry, New York.
Wishing to start a family, Maria and Rick adopted their eldest daughter, Joanna, in 1975. Their budding family relocated to Mandeville, a suburb across Lake Pontchartrain from New Orleans, Louisiana where they adopted another daughter, Tine, in 1979. Soon after, they settled in Harvard, Massachusetts, where they resided for 37 years. There, Maria gave birth to their youngest child, John, in 1982.
In the late 1980s, Maria returned to work, first working in the Harvard Elementary School with the Concord Area Special Education Collaborative, teaching children with special needs for over a decade. Eventually she transitioned to working as a beloved substitute teacher throughout the Elementary School – playfully responding to students’ questions about “why she talked funny” with a short lesson on where to find Holland on a map. She was adored by her colleagues for her compassion, quick wit, and no nonsense personality. She retired in 2014.
Maria was a dedicated wife and mother, steadfast in caring for her husband and three children. She was an incredible cook, loved to read and sew, making every Halloween costume for her children by hand. She almost never missed a game, a play, a race, a gymnastics meet, or a concert – joking later in life that John spent his early childhood with her in the minivan. She always opened her home and her kitchen to guests, especially her children’s friends, for play dates, sleepovers, and later, graduation parties. Departing visitors and friends always left very well-fed.
While very proud of her Dutch heritage, Maria also embraced her adopted country, becoming a U.S. citizen in 2004.
In 2016, Maria and Rick moved to Silver Spring, MD to be closer to their daughters and granddaughters. Maria was preceded in death by her parents and her brother Arie. She lost her husband Rick to Alzheimer’s, a short four weeks before her own death.
Maria is survived by her three children, Joanna, Tine and John, and her beloved granddaughters, Maya and Ella. She also leaves behind her sisters, Tine, Trudy and Wil, along with many nieces, nephews, and their children.
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