Deborah Josephine Welch

Debby is survived by her husband, Bill Welch; her siblings, Peggy and Curt Moody of Carlisle; Fred Uhiren of Hazen; and Joan Woodruff of Little Rock; her children, Chris Paladino of Little Rock; Michael and Leslie Paladino of Bentonville; step-children Brad and Kay Welch, Joe and Bonnie Welch, Kelly and David Eggebeen, and Brian and Ileana Welch; her grandchildren, Gabby and Peter Paladino; several aunts, nieces, nephews and cousins.Debby is preceded in death by her parents, Bill and Gloria Bujarski Uhiren.

Services to honor and celebrate the life of Debby were held on December 20 at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church in Bentonville, AR. Arrangements were under the care of Callison-Lough Funeral Home in Bentonville. www.CallisonLoughFH.com.

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Her sons, Chris and Michael Paladino collaborated in writing and Michael delivered the following tribute to their mother.

Whether you knew Debby Welch as Debby, Debby Jo, Deb, Grandeb, Little Debby, or Momma,

she touched a lot of lives across a lot of generations and locations. In this note, we wanted to

share some thoughts on one of the strongest and most disciplined people we’ve ever met.

It’s hard to talk about our mom without talking about her medical background because of how

much that shaped her life. During the last couple of weeks of her life, we got to hear her share a

number of stories with friends, family, doctors and nurses. So, we thought we’d pass those along as close to the way she would have as we can. Most of you probably already know that she was diagnosed with Type I diabetes at age 9.

At that time, the doctors told her she would likely not live past 30 and most certainly wouldn’t be able to have children. She obviously proved them wrong on both accounts. It’s easy to hear about her diabetes and not have an appreciation for what it took to live with that her whole life. One of the stories she told was about dinner time during her childhood years. Her mom would make her a meal of frozen broccoli and cauliflower and have her eat before everyone else in the family. Then the family would sit down and have their meal. That experience was clearly tough for her.

Debby also hated needles. Think about that for a second. Someone who had to take a daily shot for most of her life...not to mention the countless sticks from hospital visits and

procedures...hated needles. Every shot she had to take was such a challenge for her that she

decided that she would have to make the most of every single day to make that shot worthwhile.

If you spent any amount of time with her at all, you saw that zeal for life and for making the most

of every day.

Later at age 51, Debby received a heart transplant. Shands Hospital in Gainesville, FL had never done a heart transplant for a diabetic, but given how well she had taken care of herself, they were willing to try it. It wasn’t without complications, but overall it was successful and allowed her to get 17 more years on this earth. During those extra years she got to meet her grandchildren and watch them grow while making a ton of other memories with families and friends. We’ll forever be grateful to Bill for both encouraging her to go through with the transplant as well as almost single-handedly caring for her afterwards. And of course the last big medical obstacle was the cancer that we learned about on Thanksgiving just about 3 weeks ago. Even with that disease, she handled it with discipline and dignity and got to spend another couple weeks with her family before her passing.

During that most recent hospital stay, she enjoyed getting to educate some of the doctors in Northwest Arkansas. Many of them had never treated a heart transplant recipient, and she was happy to fill them in on the nuances. She also took great pride in teaching one particular doctor how to have a sense of humor even in the most serious of circumstances. In the hospital, we all joked that we dealt with difficult topics with humor, and she was definitely the ringleader.

Debby was obviously full of life and full of energy. She loved walking and particularly loved the

trail behind her and Bill’s house in Florida. As we’ve learned over the past few days from letters

and online posts, she impacted a lot more of those folks than we ever realized. Debby obviously loved to bake. Most of you reading this have probably eaten a cake, cookies, candy or some other treats that she made. The crazy thing about that is that she couldn’t eat most of what she made… she just loved feeding others. When she and Bill moved to Bentonville, she almost immediately started baking and bringing her treats to the office where I work. After a few weeks, the team dubbed her “Little Debby” playing off the snack cake brand. When she and Bill walked in the door, a company-wide announcement would go out so the team could come check out what she brought. She brought happiness to a lot of folks that way.

Debby had a strong faith referring to herself as a “cradle Catholic”. She was always active in her

church...most recently here at St. Stephen’s. During those last days leading up to her death, she

repeated the mantra “Thy will be done” and told us she was looking forward to hearing God tell

her “Well done my good and faithful servant”. We’re excited that she has now had that opportunity.

Debby believed strongly in the power of a smile and never met a stranger. We’ve heard her

sister, Peg, joke that our mom learned how to smile as a cheerleader and never stopped. She

often referenced a song that we learned as a kid: “Smile, don’t you know God loves you. Come to think of it, I love you, too. Take the time to smile at someone and before you’re through, someone will be smiling back at you.” She thoroughly believed that and lived it out daily. That smile typically went along with a joke and a laugh.

In fact, in some of her last words to at the hospice facility, even when she could barely

manage to speak and move, she was still joking sarcastically with us and smiling. Thank you to all that sent flowers and cards, to those that prayed, and to those that visited during the last weeks of Debby’s life. Those last weeks truly were a blessing for her and her family to be able to finish her story well, and you all were very much a part of that.

Debby Welch was a great woman. We are honored that she was our mother, and we’ll continue

to do our best to make her proud. Love you, mom.