Maria Teresa Williams  Born 3-23-61, Los Angeles, CA Died 11-23-25, Tucson, AZ    Raised her first 11 years in Los Angeles with her siblings Steven Curtis Klein, Natalie Klein, and Brenda Klein by their parents Carl Klein and Teresa Socorro Mares Klein. Cousin Carmen Robinson, same age as Maria, was also an important part of those first 11 years. The family then moved to Minnesota where Maria lived through high school. She then joined the army and was stationed in Germany as a medic for 3 years. She then returned to Minnesota and got a Social Work degree at Bemidji State University followed by a masters at the University of Minnesota. She worked a few years for Hennepin County in Minneapolis but she had always wanted to live in the Southwest so soon moved to New Mexico. There she worked for the State's Adult & Child Protective Services in Grants, NM.   She met her future husband, Dr. Stephen Williams, while each was hiking alone on the nearby Zuni-Acoma Trail. They married 9-4-96 and moved to Tucson where Maria immediately fell in love with the Sonoran Desert. In her 40's she decided to attend the University of Arizona for a science degree in biology and then a 2nd masters degree, this time in Range Management.     Over the next 15 years she was delightedly involved in many ecology based jobs and studies. She was a bee scientist for several years for the University of Arizona until she sadly developed a serious bee sting allergy. She was a range land inspector at different times for the Bureau of Land Management, Department of Agriculture, University of Arizona and Pima County.   Maria was involved in numerous scientific studies with the Arizona Sonoran Desert Museum and the University of Arizona of various plants and animals including moths, wild bees, owls, cuckoos and other birds, endangered sea turtles and many plants. The pride and joy of her biology career was the subject of her master's thesis. The Terlingua Creek Cat's Eye. This is a very rare plant in the desert of far west Texas. Much of what is known of this plant is a result of Maria's study.    Maria's first career, as a social worker, included stints working at hospices, one children's and one adult's. She loved helping people. She considered her second career as being a social worker for the environment, for plants and animals. Her final job, which she also loved, was as a high school counselor at Desert Rose Academy and Mountain Rose Academy in Tucson. She considered being involved with teaching to be a natural culmination for her career.   Above all, Maria loved walking in the beauty of the natural world. She hiked for miles almost everyday, always alert for the next flower, the next butterfly, the next bird, the next bear. Thank you, Maria, for making life better for all of us who knew you. It is a terrible pity to have lost you too young. You'll be remembered and loved.