Debbie was born in Southern California and lived in the Glendale until she was 8 years old. She is the second oldest of 5 children. She had three sisters and one brother in their family. Her youngest sister is Jill Richins who is in our ward and Debbie lives in her basement. Debbie loved the warm weather of Southern California. She also really enjoyed that the whole time they lived there, lots of family would come visit them. (This probably had something to do with the fact that they lived about 45 minutes away from DisneyLand.) She also remembers that there were lizards everywhere.
When Debbie was 8 years old, her father took a job in Utah. The family moved to Kaysville. It was hard for Debbie to leave her best friend, but she found new ones in Kaysville. She grew up there until she left home for College. She lived just off 200 North on Oak Lane.
In Junior High Debbie played sports. She was on the basketball and Volleyball team at Kaysville Junior High. She also really enjoyed playing for the church Young Women teams. She was also an editor for the Kaysville Junior High student newspaper her 9th grade year. She loved going to Young Women's. It was a great social outlet and she learned a lot from her great leaders.
When Debbie went into high school her main focus was academics and family. She participated in a girls singing group in high school, but her main focus was getting good grades. Looking back now she wishes she wouldn’t have worried so much about school. Now she reminds her kids that grades aren't everything, so make a good effort and enjoy life.
After finishing high school, Debbie packed her bags and 2 weeks later headed to the sunny summer session at Ricks College. She stayed there a year and a half, going both summers she was there. Those summer terms ended up being the most fun! Partly because of her patriarchal blessing, she chose to go into Elementary Education.
She also worked while attending Ricks College as a tutor in a math and reading lab helping students improve there skills so they could go on and take the required college courses they needed to graduate. She loved that job. She felt confident in her abilities and loved that she was able to interact with other college students. She also loved math, that is until Calculus!
After finishing up her associates in El Ed, Debbie transferred to BYU. She had great roommates and enjoyed her Family Home Evening group. She met a young man in her family home evening group and they fell in love. (They were married 6 months later.) She also continued to work while getting her EL ED degree. She had a couple of different jobs while at BYU. One was catering, but she found doing catering very physically tiring. She also worked for one of her professors making graphs and tables to summarize his research. She like that job, but her favorite job was still tutoring in the Ricks College lab.
After she graduated and was married, Debbie started teaching at an elementary school in Sandy. She taught there for 3 years while her husband completed his degree at BYU in engineering. That meant commuting everyday from Provo. Debbie loved teaching, especially the ah-ha moment of watching the children grasp something they didn't see before and the variety of personalities in her classes. When she talks about teaching her eyes light up and maybe one day she will go back to it.
After her husband got a job, they moved to American Fork where they lived for 12 years followed by a move to Cedar Hills. Debbie quit teaching as soon as her oldest son was born. By far, being a stay-at-home mom is Debbie's favorite job. She devoted herself to her children. She says she wouldn't have missed being with them for the world. This devotion and awareness of her children's needs helped her seek for the best educational opportunities for them. She has had them go, at different times, to public, private, charter schools and even homeschooled. In fact her youngest two chidren were homeschooled until junior high. Debbie’s oldest son, Brandon just graduated from college in personal finance. Her oldest daughter, Marie is married and attending BYU. Next is James who recently was honorably released from his mission in Denver, Colorado. Rachel is almost 13 and the spunky red-hair caboose. James and Rachel are currently living with Debbie.
Homeschooling didn't leave much time for Debbie to really have her own hobbies but she does love baking and cooking especially sweets. She has a total sweet tooth. She still loves sports but due to injuries had to give up playing them in her 30s. She also was in the Primary Presidency for 5 years when she lived in American Fork. It was a large primary just like ours and it really kept her hopping the whole time.
After 27 years of marriage Debbie realized that the unhealthy situation she was in was not going to change. So after many years and hours of contemplation, prayer and going to the temple, she decided to get a divorce. It was a very hard decision. However, after she decided, things started opening up for her in her life. Her sister Jill needed to hire someone to help her out with her children and Debbie was available. Jill also has a large enough house, they were able to finish the basement so Debbie and her 12 year old daughter Rachel would have their own space. Debbie feels lucky to be able to live with her sister. They are able to be a blessing in each others lives as they help each other raise their children.
I asked Debbie after all of these trials and blessing she's had in her life, what piece of advice would you give to someone else. She said, « If you are right with the Lord it doesn't matter what happens to you or what anyone else thinks. » I feel that is very wise advice. We are so lucky to have Debbie in our ward with the experience and positive attitude she brings. If you get a chance get to know her, take it, you'll be glad you did.
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