old clothes, an abandoned, half-burned  house, school play yards, etc.)

As a young adult Debra began wishing for a “simpler” life and moved from a large city to a small city. At the age of 25 she enrolled in nursing school, and on that college campus met her husband and promptly dropped out of nursing to set up housekeeping...then found that two incomes were more or less necessary to make it in today’s world. She worked part-time while raising their two children, then went back to full time jobs, which have included: secretary, bookkeeper, working in the editorial department of a newspaper, owner of a short-lived resume-writing business, and personnel specialist. She’s done such challenging things as hanging off an overpass to take photos of graffiti (for the newspaper, not for fun), and arranging a political event attended by the governor.

By the way—life is not simpler in a small city, Debra says, but at least it’s easier to get around in!

Debra had a fun childhood that involved lots of visits to both sets of grandparents, who lived an hour or so away in neighboring small towns. Her grandfather was the county sheriff and the jail was actually a part of the big old house in which he and her grandmother lived. The cells were up a flight of steel steps that ascended from a separate entranceway to the house.

They had many interesting visitors (apart from the prisoners) -- among them a faded old lady who, it was said, was the inspiration for the popular song “Delta Dawn”.

Her grandmother had a “haunted” portrait called Southern Belle that snapped, crackled and popped when you were left alone with it. Her other grandmother also lived in a large old house, with one whole room full of books (Debra spent hours there), an antique doll collection, and lots of interesting outdoor places to visit (barns, outbuildings with trunks full of