Maria Valenta Pinto Catotola Bowling

Maria Bowling, 26, of Princeton, NJ tragically passed away on November 9, 2025. Maria was born to Crisostomo and Rosario Pinto Catotola on April 7, 1999, in Huambo, Angola. In addition to her parents, she is survived by her loving husband Tanner "Bob" Bowling, two siblings, and a host of dear friends and family.
Maria was a brilliant scientific mind, a shooting star, with an unbelievable capacity for abstraction, pattern recognition, and revolutionary thinking.
She was also a first-born African daughter who led a transnational life. Born in Angola, raised in France, she fell in love with a man living across the world. Earlier this year, she finally got to join him and experience the care and comfort of their shared home.
At 26, Maria knew more about the world than most of us would get to understand in our lifetime. She was "all in" on everything she did, never half heartedly. She wrote poetry, mostly to herself, to process and to channel her thoughts and emotions. She had an amazing situational sense of humour and a magical healing presence in her, that touched anyone she met.
She left an eternal light into each community she was ever a part of, and loved her friends deeply, as family members. Those few of us blessed enough to see the full intensity of her light have been changed by it.
She will be forever loved and constantly missed.
Please join us to celebrate Maria's life at Mather-Hodge Funeral home on Saturday, November 22, 2025 from 3pm to 7pm.