Maria Tomczuk

Maria Tomczuk, age 74 of Meriden/Wallingford went home to Heaven to see her family on Thursday, November 21, 2024 after a brief and sudden illness.

Maria was born in Jumet, Belgium to Paul Konobeev and his wife Helene Konobeev on March 17, 1950. Maria emigrated with her family to the United States at the age of 4 in 1954. 

She attended Meriden schools and graduated from Maloney High School in 1968. After high school, she attended St. Joseph College. She worked for Thompson Candy while in high school and worked for the Meriden Health Department for many years as well as Lincare. She retired in 2010.

Maria was a person of many talents and traits. She loved music, especially the Beatles. She also loved reading, doing crossword puzzles, gardening, baking and cooking. 

She was most happy with an iced coffee in her hand, in the sun, spending time with her family. She mostly loved spending time with her family during the holidays. 

Thanksgiving and Christmas were her favorites. She had the best time talking, laughing and making memories with those that she loved. Every year she made her famous fried Christmas cookies. They were so famous that she would have to make hundreds so that every family had a few dozen. She spent many holidays rolling out, baking and decorating cookies with her Grandchildren through the years. It's a good thing that she showed her Grandson and her "Sunshine" (Emily) how to make them because they both have BIG shoes to fill now!!

Maria was always there with a shoulder to cry on and an ear to listen, and she always gave the best advice, even if you didn't want to hear it. She was sympathetic when you needed her to be but also as tough as nails and ready to tell you to CUT IT OUT when you needed to be put in place. She never held a grudge and always had the best of intentions for everyone.

She valued her family so much that she spent the last 25 years of her life writing a book that showed our families complete history origins. This book spanned hundreds of years, took 25 years of effort, time and lots of money to accomplish. Someone once said, you could pay a Genealogy company 1 million dollars and you wouldn't get all of the information and pictures that she accomplished in her book. Her book is her legacy to us all and shows how much she valued her family and wanted us to all know how important family is to us. Her dream of completing her book was accomplished last year and for Christmas of 2024 she gave every family a copy.She was so proud and happy and so are we. Simply said, Maria loved us all with every fiber of her being and she will be forever missed to all who knew and loved her. Her caring, gentle ways and dedication to love and family are what the world needs more of these days. 

At the time of her passing, Maria was currently relocating to Chesapeake to live the rest of her days bonding with Mr. Wyatt. She was extremely excited about getting to know him and build their relationship. Maria looked forward to seeing, hearing and watching all of her Grandchildren grow each day. The love she had for them all was immeasurable and she was always so proud of them and their accomplishments. She always loved talking about them and showing their pictures off to everyone. 

She is survived by her three sons, Paul Konobeev and his wife Jennifer of Meriden, Daniel Tomczuk of Meriden, and Thomas Konobeev and his wife Tabitha of Meriden. 

She is also survived by 2 sisters: Lillia White of Meriden, and Christine Marasca of Biloxi, MS, 2 brothers: Peter Konobeev of Wallingford and Gregory Konobeev of Meriden, 7 grandchildren who were the absolute loves of her life: Paul, Adam, Mary, Monica, Emily, Derek and Kyle. She was also very excited to be Oma to her Great Grandson, Wyatt, of Chesapeake, Va. She is also survived by several nieces, nephews, cousins and friends that are scattered around the country and throughout the world from Connecticut to Germany. She had a very special place in her heart for her very best friend of 66 years, Sharon Levesque Martin of Derry, NH. 

She was predeceased by her father Paul and her mother Helene as well as several other beloved family members who are missed every day but we take joy in knowing that they are all together again, laughing, building memories and watching over us all while we continue our journey here. 

Maria wanted to have a party in her memory this Spring, in her honor, with family, friends, food and music. Burial will be done after her memorial party at Walnut Grove Cemetery. Invites will be sent at a later date. 

With Christmas so close, we ask that everyone please light a candle in her memory on Christmas Day and tell a story about her. She loved Christmas so let's keep her spirit alive this holiday season and let her know that we are all thinking of her. 

Your road was tough but you always prevailed with determination and bravery. You lived a fantastic life and left a legacy of love and family. Your lessons were enough to give us all a lifetime of memories. Thank you for all you have done. Rest peacefully, Mom. We love you and we will all miss you until we one day together again. 

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