Maria V. Cattell, 56, passed away in her home on Sunday the 2nd of November. She was born in Washington DC on September 16, 1969, and soon after she was adopted by Robert and Brenda Cattell. The family spent several years of her early childhood living in Europe and Africa. The family moved back to Northern Virginia where she spent the rest of her childhood and adolescent years, graduating in 1987 from Robinson High School in Fairfax, Virginia.

Maria began her higher education at Northern Virginia Community College before transferring to the University of South Florida (USF) to finish her bachelor's degree in biology. She then continued on to graduate school at USF and earned a PhD in ecology in 2001.

In 2003, she and her family moved to Longmont, Colorado, where she worked as a research associate and professor at the University of Colorado Boulder and at the University of Colorado Denver. Her focus and expertise were on using gene editing techniques to research the evolution of vertebrate animals. In 2007, she developed the science program, NiSci, at her sons' elementary school, which provided hands-on science learning activities in order to expose young kids to the wonders of science.

Maria worked most recently as an adjunct professor at Metropolitan State University of Denver (MSU). Her students described her as a passionate teacher who cared deeply about biology. On her own initiative and with her free time, she established a program researching coral genetics in order to help conserve our threatened coral reefs and give her students practical lab experience.

In 2020, she met the love of her life, Matthew Mahon, and got married in the fall of 2024. Together, they rediscovered their youth, going to String Cheese Incident and Goose concerts, taking sick days to ski the best powder, and doing yearly dive trips in Belize and Bonaire. In addition to her hobbies with Matt, Maria enjoyed taking her dog Sif on hikes in the Rockies, growing vegetables in her backyard garden, and rewatching her favorite shows like Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She was a lover of all living things, especially dragonflies and her dog and cats.

Maria is predeceased by her parents, Robert and Brenda Cattell. She is survived by her brother Marc Cattell, sister-in-law Katie Cattell, niece Grace Cattell, nephew Charlie Cattell, and her two sons, Stian and Bjorn Cattell-Ravdal, who miss her dearly. 

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