Maxine Dowden Pittman

Maxine Dowden Pittman, born 19 January 1939 in St. John’s, Newfoundland, died 10 September 2025 in Berrien Springs, MI at home. Those who knew her will remember her love of books, music, art, lively conversation, and impeccable surroundings. She was a registered nurse by training, but her great passion was creating—whether through food or home décor. She taught her family and friends to value honesty, integrity, generosity, hospitality, beauty, and love. A woman of abiding faith, she departed this life at peace with her Maker.

Maxine was born to Theresa Rose Jones Dowden and Malcolm Earnest Dowden. She and her brother, M. Douglas Dowden (who predeceased Maxine), grew up in a closeknit Seventh-day Adventist community in St. John’s. An exceptional and diligent student, Maxine excelled in coursework at St. John’s Adventist Academy and on her government exams, eventually leaving her island home for studies on the mainland. She graduated from Kingsway College (Oshawa, Ontario), then worked for a year at Branson Hospital. The assistance of church friends led to her securing a place to study nursing at Glendale Adventist Hospital (Glendale, CA) where she earned her R.N. (1961). Maxine would go on to work as a nurse in various contexts in private dermatology and surgical practices, in the surgical intensive care unit at Glendale Adventist Hospital, an OB/GYN clinic, and in the inpatient behavioral health setting.

On the day President John F. Kennedy was assassinated (1963), Maxine met her future husband, Thomas D. Pittman, at a Friday vespers service at the Vallejo Drive Seventh-day Adventist Church. He had recently been honorably discharged as an officer of the US Army Medical Specialists Corp. They married soon after on 12 April 1964 at Wee Kirk O’ the Heather, Forest Lawn, Glendale (CA). Thomas, a hospital administrator, specialized in behavioral health institutions, and together, they worked in healthcare for their whole professional lives.

Maxine’s home was undoubtedly her happiest place—a site of beauty and order, safety and comfort. She valued her time alone reading and studying, but she also welcomed the company of others. And now, she waits to home-build with her family and friends again, safe in the promise of her Savior. She took great comfort in the vision of eternal belonging and home found in John 14:2-3: “In My Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and receive you to Myself; that where I am, there you may be also.” Even so, come Lord Jesus. May her memory be a blessing and an invitation to a life of grace and beauty anticipating the home that is to come.

Maxine is survived by her loving husband of sixty-one years, Thomas D. Pittman, her daughter, L. Monique Pittman, son-in-law, Paul D. Smith, Jr, her nieces, Cheryl Dowden and Lori Mitchell Roeser, and her nephew, Kenneth Mitchell.

Arrangements have been made with Allred Funeral Home. The celebration of life will be held on Saturday, 4 October at 4:30 pm in the Seminary Chapel on the campus of Andrews University.