Deborah Ellen Byrd Gittinger

Deborah Ellen Byrd Gittinger, age 67 of San Antonio, Texas, went home to our Divine Creator and her Lord and Savior Jesus Christ on Thursday, November 17, 2016. All the while teaching us to be classy to the end, she was taken from us after a long battle with cancer.

She and her husband, Michael, enjoyed traveling and living in many places. She loved her pets, loved to shop and usually had a Coca-Cola, with lots of ice, in her hand. Deborah received her BS in Communications from Towson University and her Master's in Education at Nova Southeastern University in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. She worked in many careers over the years; however, her one true love was teaching. Deborah was a selfless, dedicated, dynamic teacher of English at Saint Mary's Hall for twelve years and previously at Antonian High School for two years. She was a great friend and colleague who was well organized and amazingly unselfish. A book, designed by a former student and recently given to Deborah, is composed of thoughts and messages from former students, parents of former students, and fellow teachers. This book is filled with memories of the special person who was always there for her students. Deborah was a dedicated soul who spent her life giving to others and providing her students a strong foundation to go forth into their own lives. In addition to her teaching, Deborah was an active participant in school drama productions at Saint Mary's Hall such as Bye Bye Birdie and Little Shop of Horrors.

Her parents, Mary Ellen Fletcher Byrd and John E. Byrd Jr. of Clarksburg, West Virginia, and her son, Michael John Gittinger of San Antonio, Texas, preceded Deborah in death. She is survived by her loving and devoted husband of forty-four years, Michael Gittinger, whom she met in college at Towson University in Towson, Maryland; son, Brian Gittinger and his wife Monica; brother-in-law Thomas Gittinger and his wife, Patricia; brother-in-law Paul Gittinger and his wife Mary Mac and numerous other loving family and friends.

The memorial service will be held Monday November 28, 2016, at 5:00 p.m. at Porter Loring North, 2102 N Loop 1604 E.

"With you a part of me hath passed away;

For in the peopled forest of my mind

A tree made leafless of this wintry wind

Shall never don again its green array.

Chapel and fireside, country road and bay,

Have something of their friendliness resigned;

Another, if I would, I could not find,

And I am grown much older in a day.

But yet I treasure in my memory

Your gift of charity, and young hearts ease,

And the dear honour of your amity;

For these once mine, my life is rich with these.

And I scarce know which part may greater be, --

What I keep of you, or you rob of me."

--George Santayana