Deborah Ann Limmer, 60, a cardiac intensive care nurse at Sinai Hospital, died Monday when she was struck by a vehicle while walking with her granddaughter, Delaney Marie “Laney” Gaddis, near her home in Timonium. Both were killed.

Ms. Limmer was remembered by colleagues for her professionalism, compassion, love of family and her carrot cake, which she always brought to hospital functions.

“For Deb, everything was family. It is such a senseless loss,” said Bette A. Nunn of Catonsville, nurse manager of Sinai’s Intensive Care and Cardiac Care units, where Ms. Limmer had worked for the last 18 years.

“She was a strong woman and a great colleague and was always proud to be a nurse,” Ms. Nunn said. “She was dedicated to what we call the essence of nursing, which is the art and science side of nursing. She was an advocate of that.”

Deborah Ann Chojnacki was born in Baltimore and raised in Rosedale. She was the daughter of the late Eugene Chojnacki, a Verizon worker, and Joan Chojnacki, a homemaker who lives in Parkville.

She was a graduate of Catholic High School and received an associate’s degree from the Community College of Baltimore County-Essex. She received her nursing degree from Notre Dame of Maryland University.

She was a single mother of three children, Jennifer Gaddis of Shrewsbury, Pa., Rob Limmer of Timonium and Tom Limmer of Washington.

Ms. Limmer had worked at Sinai for 28 years, and began her career in the ICU.

“She was a specialist in the cardiac care intensive care unit,” Ms. Nunn said. “She worked the night shift her whole career and worked lots of extra shifts while she was raising her children. She was the matriarch and did everything she could to care for them.”

“As her children grew up, she insisted each of them had the opportunity to earn a college degree,” wrote her sons in a biographical profile of their mother.

“She worked up to 60 hours per week to support their higher education. Her drive and determination inspired them to press on even when times were hard,” they wrote. “When they all received their degrees, she was there in the audience beaming with pride.”

Family was important to Ms. Limmer, and each Wednesday she hosted a family dinner for her children and grandchildren at her Pot Spring Road home.

“People who knew her never asked her to trade a Wednesday night shift, because that was the night she had her family dinner,” Ms. Nunn said. She added that Ms. Limmer would come in early any other day to help a fellow nurse who had an obligation.

She said Ms. Limmer embraced new technology and would come in on her days off to take courses. “She was never stagnant in her profession,” she said.

She was also always willing to instruct her colleagues.

“Her legacy will live on in the nurses she trained over the years,” Ms. Nunn said. “A new nurse who had been here for six months and was trained by Deb told me when he thinks of her: ‘What would Debbie say? What would Debbie do?’ ”

Ms. Limmer, who worked her final shift last Saturday night, had scores of friends across the hospital and in various other departments.

“She was not a person who stood out in the crowd, but she was the first person to be a team member. She was funny, had a great sense of humor, and was a very practical person,” Ms. Nunn said. “And when she had something to say, people listened. When she called physicians, they listened.”

Every time there was a social event at the hospital or in someone’s home, Ms. Limmer would bring a carrot cake.

“She baked the most incredible carrot cake and she brought them to everything,” Ms. Nunn said. “She always said the cake was ‘for love, and with love.’ She expressed her loving and caring through baking.”

Ms. Limmer was always talking about her children and grandchildren at work, Ms. Nunn said.

A doting grandmother who was known as “MomMom,” she liked taking her grandchildren to places including Oregon Ridge Park, Land of the Little Horses, Ladew Topiary Gardens, the National Aquarium in Baltimore and the Cockeysville Library.

A visitation for Ms. Limmer and her granddaughter will be held from 2 p.m to 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. today at Peaceful Alternatives Funeral and Cremation Center, 2325 York Road, Timonium.

Funeral services are private.

In addition to her three children and her mother, Ms. Limmer is survived by a sister, Denice Holin of Essex, and two grandchildren. A marriage to Bob Limmer ended in divorce.

fred.rasmussen@baltsun.com