Debra Gayle Lockhart

Debbie was born March 5th 1954 to Joe and Jeanette Quigley. Joe and Jeanette were so thrilled to become parents, especially to a beautiful baby girl. The first few months of being new parents were so wonderful, but as Debbie reached four months old they started to notice something wasn’t right. They took her to the doctors and found out that she had Hydrocephalus. The doctors suggested doing surgery right away.

Joe and Jeanette decided on the surgery that would hopefully save their baby girl’s life. The experimental procedure was done and worked till Debbie was 16 years old, when another procedure had to be done, so they put in a shunt. She had other battles to face, but she was a fighter from day one and never gave up on being who she wanted to be.

In 1960 Debbie became a big sister, to not only one other sibling, but to twins, Patrice and Michael. Joe and Jeanette were so surprised to have had twins, but Debbie was so happy to be a big sister and couldn’t wait to experience all the fun things with us. Like taking family trips to Mesa Verde, were Debbie climbed the ruins, she was determined to be just like everyone else.

Debbie attended Boettcher School for handicap children and loved going there very much. She was the Valedictorian of her graduating class in 1972, and then Debbie went on with living life and married in 1978. In 1979 Debbie became a mother to a baby girl whom she named Gayle. Gayle lit up her life even more and made her life that much more exciting to live. Gayle learned how to walk by holding onto her Mother’s crutches.

Gayle grew up and made Debbie a grandmother, with Lynn in 2002 and then Ryan in 2005. She loved being a grandmother; they played games together and rode on her wheel chair. Ryan’s favorite place to sit was at her feet. Lynn enjoyed playing card games with her grandma and having a movie night with popcorn and soda.

In 2002 Debbie moved into Kindred Care Center, where she gained so many new friends. She loved playing Bingo with her Uncle Duane and never ever wanted to miss it. But that wasn’t all she did at her time in Kindred Care Center, she participated in all the activities and loved going outside with her family when they would come to visit.

In 2005 Debbie was the President of Resident Council and she also ran the Country Store. In 2006 she met Lois her roommate whom Debbie loved very much and was one of her best friends.

As many of you probably know Debbie loved going to church and loved to sing. When life started to slow down and Debbie was no longer able to attend church, her Church Family came to her. She enjoyed singing along with Todd and his guitar, their favorite song to sing together was Amazing Grace.

Debbie was a lover, a fighter and a believer. She knew all things were possible through Christ and never gave up on the fight, Until December 6th, with my Mother, her Daughter and my Sister by her side. She glanced over at Patrice, squeezed her hand and God finally took her in his arms and let her be free.

She loved her family and her friends very much and we will all miss her, especially her smile, her laugh and just the joy that she would bring to a room. But it’s comforting to know that she has a place in Heaven now and she’s at peace and doesn’t have to fight any longer.