Jerry Walter Maze

Jerry was born March 12, 1948 in Mesa, Arizona to Walter Edward Maze and Evelyn Annie Grinstead.

He graduated from Maryvale High School in 1967 where he played Varsity football and baseball. Continuing his love of sports, he played in a softball league for many years after High School. He spent summers working for family friends, Young’s Custom Farming, where he drove and serviced combines and trucks. Likely where his enthusiasm for tractors and mechanic work, combined with learning from his father, a diesel mechanic, started to take root.

Jerry studied at The Maricopa Technical Institute to become certified in construction and also at the Ford Motor Company to become a certified Ford mechanic. Then working for Herb Stevens Lincoln Mercury as well as Luke Air Force Base as a mechanic and service technician. He also spent several years working for W.W. Bonner Construction building and remodeling homes.

His true career calling arrived when he became an apprentice in 1972 with The Plasterers and Cement Masons Union. He worked his way up to “Journeyman Cement Mason” and continued in this field until his retirement in 2005. Through his skill, hard work and dedication to his craft his resume grew over the decades. Working for McCarthy, Del Webb and many other companies he left his mark on numerous shopping centers, banks, dams, water treatment plants, correctional facilities and schools. As well as many well-known places around the Phoenix area; Sky Harbor, St. Joseph's and Boswell Hospitals, The Sun Dome, Motorola, I-40, the Superstition Freeway and bridges, Palo Verde Nuclear Generating station, Crystal Point, The Princess and The Phoenician Resorts. He also likely left his mark on many unsuspecting co-workers who became targets of countless “lighthearted” job-site pranks. One particular job he often shared about was when he was assigned to Cairo Egypt as construction consultant and supervisor on high rises and parking structures. Many colorful stories came back to AZ with him. Not all of them appropriate at the dinner table.

Aside from construction work he also spent time as a volunteer deputy sheriff and taught Cement Masons Apprenticeship classes at Gateway Community College.

Besides his devotion to cement finishing Jerry had many passions and interests. Woodworking, welding, hunting, fishing, old tractors, gardening, football, baseball and barbecuing to name a few.

In his later years he enjoyed spending countless hours crafting handmade wooden wagons and ornaments. He loved gifting them to family and friends as much as he did making them. Always ready to cook, bake or BBQ for anyone he could feed. He found delight in feeding the little wild birds in his backyard every day. If his TV wasn’t on the Western channel, you could be sure it was on a football or baseball game. Didn’t matter if it was professional, college or high school. He never missed a single game of the Little League World Series every year. He thoroughly enjoyed handing out pieces of candy to anyone and everyone he met, including wait staff, bank tellers, gas station clerks, random strangers in line and even his medical doctors. He never left home without a pocket full of peppermints or atomic fireballs.

He loved telling stories and making people laugh, often at their own expense… “No Dad, I did not use a weed whacker to cut my bangs.” Nothing made him happier than sitting with family and friends laughing and just soaking up their presence. The next best thing that brought him joy was scrolling Facebook to see all the pictures and stories of loved ones especially those grandchildren and great grandchildren that he adored with all his heart.

Jerry was preceded in death by both of his parents and his sister Belva Ann Naugle.

He leaves behind his children Buck (Denise) Stone, Justin (Savannah) Stone, Faith (Bill) Gibbons, Beth Maze. His 11 grandchildren and 4 great grandchildren. Siblings Robert Maze, Edna Heflin and Ron (DeDe) Maze as well as numerous nieces, nephews, cousins and a host of other loving relatives and friends.

Jerry’s love for his family and friends, even when not always expressed or shown on the surface, truly ran deep. His unending humor, infectious laugh and beaming smile will be so missed but never forgotten.

A Celebration of Life will be held at Advantage Funeral and Cremation Services Maryvale Chapel, 6901 West Indian School Road, Phoenix, AZ 85033, US, on May 9, 2026, from 11:00 am to 12:30 pm.