Maria was born September 16, 1958, in San Antonio, TX, to Joe Peña and Santos Trevino Peña. When Maria was seven years old, her family relocated to Santa Barbara, California so that her father could attend the Brooks Institute of Photography. After Joe’s graduation from Brooks the Peñas moved to Pomona, California where Maria attended Pomona High School for three years. It was there where Maria met her lifelong friend, Donna Groszek. Maria’s family then moved to Ontario, California where she graduated from Chaffey High School in 1976. She attended Cal Poly Pomona where she received a B.S. in Chemical Engineering in 1981. Maria was registered as a Professional Engineer in Chemical Engineering in 1992 – a title she proudly maintained for the remainder of her professional career.
Maria met her husband of 30 years, Kevin Johnson, at their 10-year high school reunion. At the reunion, they realized they had attended one year of high school and three years of college together without meeting. They married in 1993, with dog Wagner in attendance. In 1995, their family grew with the birth of Carolyn (Carly) Johnson.
Maria worked for Raychem, Radian, Baxter Healthcare, and GE, but her favorite years were spent with URS as an environmental specialist consultant for NASA. She led the industry side of the NASA Environmental Review Project, working closely with her NASA counterpart, Mike McNeill. She visited every NASA center in the US multiple times, and even touched the tip of an external fuel tank on a space shuttle stack. She considered her time with NASA as the high point of her career, and remained lifelong friends with many of her NASA contacts. Although proud of her engineering career, Maria’s primary devotion was to her family. She was every kind of mom: Girl Scout mom, theater mom, band mom and swim mom, and was Carly’s greatest cheerleader.
In 2013, Maria was diagnosed with Stage 3C breast cancer. She endured potent treatments with incredible strength and was declared cancer-free in 2014, and remained in remission and in good health for the remainder of her life.
Nobody ordered from a menu like Maria, with some component of her order often arriving “on the side.” Some of her favorites included coconut cake, a complex cocktail (but just one, please), a good pot roast, and sushi. She also was one to enjoy life’s smallest pleasures – an early bloom on her orchids, harvesting her home-grown fruits, veggies, and herbs, a well-made photo album, seeing butterflies in her butterfly garden, a perfectly ripe pear, and savoring her morning cup of coffee.
Other favorites included “Animal House,” “The Three Stooges,” any and every movie about space, and all things related to dogs, zoos and aquariums, and environmental causes.
She is deeply missed by many.
Maria was predeceased by four grandparents, her father José (Joe) Peña, and “firstborn” dog Wagner. She is survived by her husband Roger Kevin Johnson, daughter Carolyn Elena Johnson, mother Santos T. Peña, and “granddog" Zoe.
In lieu of flowers, her family requests donations be made in Maria’s name to either the American Cancer Society (cancer.org) or the St. Jude Crosson Cancer Institute (stjudememorialfoundation.com).
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