Maureen M. Keating

Maureen M. Keating left this life in the most peaceful of ways, less than a month after her 75th birthday. Born in Evergreen Park, Illinois on April 1, 1947, our mom, grandma, sister, aunt, cousin, friend, neighbor and classmate brought the light of her infinite kindness and love to the lives of so many.

A graduate of Western Illinois University, Maureen started her career teaching Spanish at Willibrord Catholic High School. After giving birth to her two sons who were her world and whom she loved with all her heart, she returned to teaching Spanish at St. Catherine of Genoa School, and then at Turner Drew Language Academy, where she worked until her retirement in 2009. She was a generous, devoted and deeply caring teacher, loved by students and colleagues alike.

She was a beautiful person in every way, inside and out, from the way she lived each day with gratitude and kindness to others to her sense of style. Maureen enjoyed exercise, travel, music, making order, baking, and doing her daily sudoku and word jumble over a cup of hot tea. Her neighbors can attest to her love of walking, and how she eagerly shoveled snow in the cold months and tended to her lawn and garden in the warm ones. The abundant brightly colored flowers she grew each year were an outward manifestation of her own inner beauty, strength, and vivacity. She sang beautifully and had an abiding love of music.

More than anything, Maureen cherished people. She loved her husband Bud Green dearly and he adored her. Together they enjoyed some of the happiest years of their lives, be it in Hometown, Illinois, spending time with her son Dan and his family, in Mesa, Arizona with their dear friends, or in France visiting her son John. She was an adoring grandma who loved sharing in the lives of her grandchildren and providing them with delicious dinners and brunches. She had infinite love for her family; she was always there to share joys great and small, and to help us through our times of deepest need.

Maureen is survived by her sons John David and Daniel Mark (Natalie) Heller, her grandchildren Danny, Sophia and Cecilia Heller, her dearest sister Kathleen (Don) Finan, and their three children Kathleen Finan (Christopher White), Donald Finan (Paula) and Eileen Finan (Nathan Hollman), her loving brother David (Pat) Keating, her brother in spirit Richard “Rick” (Ann) Harty, her many nieces and grandnieces, nephews and grandnephews, and cousins. She is also survived by her beloved sister-in-law Roberta Jean Morris and the many loving members of the Green family.

She was proceeded in death by her loving and adoring husband and best friend Earl “Bud” Green, her beloved brother Robert John Keating, and her parents Dorothy and David Keating.

Maureen was the embodiment of kindness, courage, sweetness, and generosity. Though she left us too soon, in the lives of the so very many of us who loved her, a tender light shall forever shine, guide, and comfort us with its warm and constant glow. 

Funeral Friday 8:45 a.m. from Beverly Ridge Funeral Home; 10415 S. Kedzie Ave. to St. Christina Church Mass 9:30 a.m. Interment Evergreen Cemetery. Visitation Thursday 3:00 - 8:00 p.m. 773-779-4411

Funeral Mass can be live streamed at https://www.asimplestreaming.com/mmkeating/

In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to a cause close to Maureen’s heart:

Greater Chicago Food Depository

4100 W. Ann Lurie Place

Chicago, IL 60632

(773) 247-3663

To make a gift online, click here or visit www.chicagosfoodbank.org. If using the e-card option, notes may be sent to johndavidheller@gmail.com and dmarkheller@gmail.com.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Maureen M. Keating, please visit our floral store.