The Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering would like to give our condolences to the family and friends of one of our most accomplished Alumni Maria Evans Herborn. A tribute from https://www.kentforestlawn.com/tributes/Maria-Herborn is included below.

Maria was beautiful, very intelligent, and a social being who believed in doing good using her time, talents, and treasures God gave her in her short life.

She was born on Thanksgiving Day in Panama City, FL and attended Northside Elementary School, AD Harris where she was the spelling bee champion, Mowat Middle School, and graduated from Mosely High School as a part of the gifted program. Upon her high school graduation, she was the only girl named Commended Student of the National Honor Society. She then went to work at the Navy Base in the gifted program when she found her love and inclination for the Mechanical Engineering Program.

In May 1994, she graduated with honors from Gulf Coast Community College with an Associate in Arts degree.

After Gulf Coast, she was admitted to the Engineering School at the University of Florida, graduating with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. She participated in a competition in Detroit, MI to transform an automobile into an electric one. Maria and Rebecca McNeilly were the only 2 girls as part of 32 students from UF. The group placed 2nd in the national competition. Maria graduated UF with honors in 1999 with a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Even before graduation from college, she was offered a job in the Motorola giant, which she accepted and was part of the Transportation Systems Group in the semiconductor products section.

After leaving Motorola, she went to work at Texas Instruments where she invented an apparatus and method for identifying a proper orientation and electrical conductivity between a semiconductor device and a socket and contact. The invention was patented on 10/13/2009. During her years at TI, she worked and traveled extensively all over the world.

Her career took her to Chicago, IL. In 2015, she was named the Gator’s Club President of the state of Illinois. She worked tirelessly and successfully, raising funds to be granted to gifted and underprivileged students. She was a loving and caring human being and was loved by everyone who knew her.

She was preceded in death by her father, George Evans.

Maria is survived by her loving mother, M. Socorro Evans; husband, Joshua Herborn, MD; cousins, Susan Nall, Gayle (Larry) McLemore of Panama City, Rick (Shelli) Moseley of Denver, Katrina Mougey, and numerous cousins in Colorado, California, and Guadalajara, Mexico; and her beloved dog, Elvis.

Maria’s best friends were Kristen Domni Weinberg, Sara Will Marriot, Kathy Shiber, Rebecca McNeilly, Prasanti Guthikonda, Jessica Ritter Jubin, Missy Demers Bush, Ginny Davis Garner, Amy Thomas Miller, Johanna Bustter, and Thymala Truesdale.

Visitation will be from 6-8 p.m. Friday, January 12, 2024 in the chapel of Kent Forest Lawn Funeral Home in Panama City. A bi-lingual mass will take place at 9:30 a.m. at St. Dominic Catholic Church on Saturday, January 13, 2024 with Rev. Michael Nixon officiating.

Her final resting place will be at Wausau Memorial Gardens in Chipley, FL.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Maria Evans Herborn, please visit our floral store.

Information on this Tribute for Maria Evans Herborn was taken from https://www.kentforestlawn.com/tributes/Maria-Herborn