Deborah Clarice Rice

Deborah Clarice Rice passed away in her home on the 29th of September, 2020, and joyfully left this world to be reunited, after 17 years and 3 days, with the love of her life, R. Ramsey Maupin, and her dearly departed parents, Clarus and Dorothy Rice. She was born on March 4, 1951 in Bemidji, Minnesota and grew up with her older brother Jeff and her younger brother Chris in homes in Falls Church and later McLean, Virginia. She attended St. James Catholic School in Falls Church and St. John Academy in McLean and graduated from Bishop Dennis J. O’Connell in 1969. She is survived by many of her dear friends from her elementary and high school days. She was proudly voted “Best Ad Libber” by her graduating class and was an enthusiastic attendee and organizer of many of her high school reunions, including her 50th this past year. She graduated in 1973 from Virginia Tech and moved to Virginia Beach to be close to her friend “Mr. Ocean.” It was there that she met Ramsey in his last year of law school and her life was forever changed. They were truly two halves of a whole and she always said the years living in Virginia Beach and falling in love with Ram were the best of her life. They were married on May 12, 1979 at St. Mary Catholic Church in Old Town Alexandria. Together they welcomed their two daughters, Gillian Rice Maupin in 1983 and Caitlin Rice Maupin in 1985, and moved into Ramsey’s childhood home in Alexandria. She worked at Key Title in Annandale, Virginia for almost 40 years. Deb was someone who was unapologetically herself every day of her life. She prided herself on her wit, her sense of fun, and her good-natured mischief. In another life, she always said she would have been a writer for Saturday Night Live which she watched religiously every Saturday night since its premiere. She was known for her little snort laugh – no one could resist its spread – and for welcoming anyone and everyone who darkened the door of her home with a smile and a cocktail (except for occasionally the STAG kids when things got too crowded). She was known far and wide for her house parties and her refusal to ever put the air conditioner on lower than 78 degrees. For her daughters, she was an untraditional mother and more like a long-lost best friend, but someone who they could always count on in good times and bad. For her friends, she was the heart and soul of their group, always available for a late-night phone chat. In her last five years she also became a mother-in-law and a “Bebbie” to her granddaughters, Ramsey Virginia and McCoy Alexandra Drewry. She is survived by her two daughters, her two granddaughters, her son-in-law, Doug “Greg” Drewry, her two brothers, her two sisters-in-law, Judy and Jen, her twelve nieces and nephews, and countless friends. We know that she is with Ram now, recapping all their years together and apart over drinks and a smoke. If you would like to make a donation in her memory, please consider giving to the National Breast Center Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia.