She was born Maria Petrovna Arhipova on May 21, 1946, in Moscow, Russia, one of four sisters and daughter of Piotr Arhipov and Alexandra Rostovzeva. She earned a master's degree there before moving to Ecuador and then settling in the United States, where she earned a second masters. She spent much of her life in Nevada.
She taught for many years at Carson High School in Carson City, NV, first in English as a second language and later in mathematics. She was fluent in Russian, Spanish and English.
She loved to knit and to travel.
She was predeceased by her husband, Alex M. Zaitzeff, and is survived by a daughter, a son and four grandchildren.
Services and burial in the Monadnock View Cemetery, Keene, NH, were held privately by the family.
