Lynne Marie DeBishop

On May 1st 2026 the world said goodbye to Lynne Marie DeBishop, who succumbed to chronic kidney disease. Lynne was a Southington native, graduating from Southington High School in 1977 and Briarwood College in 1979, where she studied radio broadcasting/secretarial sciences. She held various positions throughout her working career, mostly in an administrative capacity but also selling pianos, tutoring, editing, and writing. She used her broadcasting knowledge during her time with a dance company. She ran the music during performances and created the tapes used during performance.

Dancing and music were major enjoyments to Lynne; they were the things she loved most. She had two especially favorite dance leads [Mark Quinlan, who used to flip her and others around the floor, and the late James Cowles, who had his own special way of throwing her around his back]. In Lynne's early twenties, she was on the board of directors for a dance collective (Dance Hartford), where she met creative, out-of-the-box thinkers and hosted Saturday night dances every week.

Lynne played the piano on and off during her lifetime. While she never considered herself any kind of maestro, she enjoyed the challenge learning new music brought. Her favorite song to play on the piano was also the hardest for her: “The Phantom of the Opera”. The musical genius of Andrew Lloyd Webber was a delight to her ears, though it took her two years to learn well. Her one regret as she leaves this life is that she never went to studio to record “Phantom” after she learned it. Use it or lose it -- she lost it, never to have it return again.

She discovered the joys of recording close to the end of her life. She had come up with her own piano arrangement of Amazing Grace, which led her to transcribing and copywriting her own sheet music, recording in a sound studio, and culminating with a video which she produced and posted on YouTube (YouTube search: LibbaLyn2). She made the video because she wanted to include Amazing Grace in an e-book she wrote on the Rosary, which includes a chapter on music that touches the soul. Finding it embarrassing to have a YouTube channel with only one song on it, she worked up a repertoire of eight other favorites and began practicing. The night before the recording date, she became ill and had to go into the hospital. She was not able to recover enough to go back into the studio.

Traveling was a part of Lynne's younger life. Luxury vacations were not for her; she took two trips on the Green Tortoise, traveling cross country one year (skinny-dipping all across America!) hiking the Badlands, and camping in the Baja Desert on another trip. She loved the desert and did not want to come back home. But she had the time of her life on the Mystic Whaler clipper ship, on which she sailed one glorious Memorial Day weekend (and every year thereafter for day sails until she moved to California). The sea was rough and the sails were hoisted. It was the first time she ever got seasick, but she had so much fun, she didn't care. (Someone on board recognized she was getting seasick, gave her half a pill, she went to bed and woke up refreshed before she had a chance to get miserable). She had been introduced to the joys of sailing thanks to the families of friends with boats: Linda Brown Vasile and WC Hoecke.

Lynne didn't exactly burn up the world with her working career. For her, it was a necessary evil. She hated the agony of nine to five and was miserable working in an office atmosphere. To her, it felt like an institution. She finally got wise and started freelancing, which was much less lucrative but easier on her soul, and then she took pride in her work. She helped people settle difficult estates; her extraordinary organizational skills were valued by many unable to keep track of things. She was a trusted confidant. In addition to administrative work, Lynne was an editor for authors and was herself an author of 2 e-books, which she also edited and self-published. While these accomplishments brought her the least amount of accolades, they are the accomplishments of which she is most proud.

Lynne wrote under the pseudonym of Stacy Lynne. She loved entering writing contests. She won some, lost others, but always enjoyed the creative spark that a contest inspired. Many times, she would crack herself up as she was writing.

When younger, Lynne was called a social butterfly. As she got older, she valued her solitude, which gave her time to create. She took great joy in caring for her home and beautiful yard. She was predeceased by her parents Richard and Lori (Mongillo) DeBishop. She leaves behind two broken-hearted brothers and a sister-in-law; Keith DeBishop and his partner Deborah Sylvain and Jeff and Trish DeBishop, two nephews; Joel and Taylor DeBishop, a slew of cousins, and many true-blue friends who rallied around her at the end, giving her much joy in her final days.

Lynne was uncomfortable in the end, but did not experience pain. She saw her disease as her ticket to paradise. She wishes to be remembered as a woman of unshakable faith and requests the planting of Forget-Me-Nots at her grave. She comforts us with these words from 2 Timothy 4:6-8 (Good News for Modern Man, American Bible Society, New York).

“As for me, ... The time is here for me to leave this life. I have done my best in the race, I have run the full distance, I have kept the faith. And now the prize of victory is waiting for me, the crown of righteousness which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me ... and not only to me, but also to all who wait with love for Him to appear”.

Lynne says, “I’ll see you on the other side. ‘Till then, if you can spare a moment, spare a thought for me. God bless you”.

Lynne’s funeral will begin at 10:15AM from the DellaVecchia Funeral Home 211 N. Main St. Southington, CT on Friday May 8, 2026. A Mass of Christian Burial will then be celebrated at St. Dominic Church 1050 Flanders Rd. Southington at 11:00AM. Calling hours will be held at the funeral home prior to Mass from 8:00AM-10:15AM. Burial will be private and at the convenience of the family. In lieu of flowers, donations in Lynne’s memory may be made to a charity of choice. To leave a message of remembrance for the family please visit: www.DellavecchiaSouthington.com