Maureen Marie Dzialga Bommer (1963-2005)

Maureen was born in Buffalo, NY, attended University of Dayton, and worked many years for DelMonte Tropical Fruits in quality assurance and distribution. Maureen was married to Stephen Bommer and together they had five beautiful children: Kelly, Julia, Emily, Curtis, and Kiera.

Maureen had a zest for life! She was ambitious, creative, and generous. She had a way of making things happen and thought nothing was impossible with contemplation, hard work, the help of others, and prayer. She was the kind of person who saw the glass as half full. Maureen felt blessed to have Julia in her life and worked tirelessly to ensure that Julia had all that she needed. Maureen advocated for Julia, taking on insurance companies, medical supply companies, school districts, health care systems and political establishments. Maureen knew tough times and there were days when she would say, “I wish I could catch a break!”. With this in mind, she vowed someday to find a way to help other families in similar situations. When Julia died, Maureen and her husband Stephen set up Julia’s Butterfly Foundation.

Maureen died just 5 months after Julia from stage IV ovarian cancer. Her vision for Julia’s Butterfly Foundation lives on in the work of the Board of Directors and their dedication to serve the needs of families caring for chronically and terminally ill children. She would be so proud of all that has been accomplished to improve the quality of life of each and every child who’s benefited from the support of this foundation.