Mar 24, 1923 - Mar 20, 2015
Maria Steelsmith was born Maria Wachelhofer in Flachau, Austria. She was preceded in death by her parents, Josef Wachelhofer and Barbara Stocker. She passed away four days before her 92nd birthday.
Maria and her family moved to Neuhofen in Upper Austria from Lower Austria just before WWII, which is where she met her husband, Thomas Gerald Steelsmith II, an American GI. After the war, she and their daughter, Eva, moved to the U.S. to live with her husband in Long Beach, CA. Maria lived in Long Beach and Garden Grove, CA until she divorced and moved to Stateline (South Lake Tahoe), NV in 1979. She lived there for 25 years, building up a babysitting and a house cleaning business with several employees. She retired and moved to Carson City, NV in 2003. Maria is survived by her five children (and their spouses), Eva Armstrong of Orange CA, Donna Ballard (John) of Sparks NV, Barbara Ballas (Rocky) of Auburn CA, Therisa Zatarain of Carson City NV, and Thomas G. Steelsmith III (Dee) of Foothill Ranch CA; and eight grandchildren: Valeri Wisner (Bob), Cristine Armstrong, Alexander Bradley, Corey Greenberg, Kyle Greenberg, Addison Devereux, Andre Zatarain and Shire Steelsmith. A memorial will be held at 1:30pm on April 4th, 2015, at the clubhouse of the Comstock Village Mobile Home Park 2601 College Parkway, Carson City, NV. Due to Maria’s love of animals, in lieu of flowers please make donations to the Nevada Humane Society.
