Shelley "Maxie" Ann Maxfield

Our beloved Shelley Ann Maxfield (Maxie), aged 75, passed away on May 8, 2024. Maxie was born in Oklahoma City and attended Oklahoma University before moving to Tucson, Arizona, for graduate school at the University of Arizona. Maxie held Master’s Degrees in Scientific Illustration and Biological Sciences.

As faculty at Pima Community College for thirty years, she taught thousands of future doctors, nurses, and scientists Anatomy and Physiology, Microbiology, as well as other subjects. Her classes were fun and fabulous. Whether she was wielding germ-ridden toothbrushes for Micro lab or infecting her students with hypothetical plagues, the classroom was where she truly loved to be. During the summers, she took her teaching talents to China and taught conversational English to students to host the Olympics. She loved these students too.

When it came time to retire, Maxie and friends Betty and Jack took to the highway and traveled all over the United States in an RV with three cats. Visiting most of the National Parks in the U.S., Maxie contributed to the local economies of every state by buying enough magnets, hats, blankets, and other treasures to start her own gift shop. A gifted artist, birder, and lover of all animals, land, sea, and sky, Maxie reveled in the beauty of nature.

Master of Mischief, wherever Maxie went, hilarity and friendships followed. She was up for anything, anywhere, any time. Her parting words were always, “Who’s got the bail money?” Maxie mastered the art of making the most of every moment, embracing everything that life had to offer and finding the best in it all.

Maxie was a true friend. She was loved by everybody because she knew how to give of her whole self. Even when her mind and body were declining, she was still Maxie. Her last months and moments were surrounded by friends and family. On the morning that she died, the patio door was open, and the birds were singing her on her way.

Maxie is survived by her Martin-Nottingham family, her many beloved friends, colleagues, students, and the passersbys in life that she made laugh along the way.

A party will be help in the fall to celebrate our amazing Maxie.

We are thankful for the help of A Place for Mom, and to Sierra del Sol and Peppi’s House for their loving care of Maxie in her final weeks.