My sister

I'm the youngest out of all of us. Debbie was 9 years old when I was born.

I remember sharing our bedroom (it was the smallest bedroom in the house) with Debbie and a foster child that lived with us. There were 3 people in this little room. 2 twin beds 3 dressers and a cot. You had to sliver your way into the closet. But it was always clean and always alive with laughter.

She got married when I was 10 so that would make her 19. I really didn't want her to leave, I liked it, her and I in that little room.

She married and moved out to live with her husband. She used to watch me now and then when Mom and Dad went away or just because I wanted to stay at their apartment or house.

Their first house was on Bell Rd and it was a duplex. Deb and Jeff weren't real handyman type people and I was a little more mechanically inclined and every spring and fall I would go up to their house and help Debbie with spring cleaning. They had these old windows and Debbie hated them, she could never get them to work right. So I would go up and do her windows.

We always worked well together, it didn't matter what kind of work, we would roll up our sleeves and get it done, because afterwards Debbie always treated you to something sweet to eat, summertime it was custard and wintertime it was going out to Cikos Diner for a late night snack, or just making homemade fudge and putting it in the freezer so it would harden up quicker so we could eat it.

Her second house was on E. Atlantic. It was a beautiful 2 story Victorian, it had a big kitchen, dinning room, living room and a wrap around porch. It also had hardwood floors.

She was busy at work and the holidays were coming up and she needed her house cleaned and she asked me if I would mind cleaning it for her. I said, "No problem."

Well I went up there and I cleaned the house and she called from work and asked how I was doing. I said, "Great, just about done."

Debbie said, "Don't forget to polish the hardwood floors."

I said, "Okay." Now I'd never polished hardwood floors before, so thinking that they're wood, I figured you use Pledge on the floors, that furniture polish, it gave them a beautiful shine, and made them slippery as all hell. ( she didn't like hardwood floors because she was always afraid of getting splinters).

I got a call that night. "Dee, what did you use on the floors? I'm slippin' and slidin' all over the place, if I get a splinter!!!!!!!!!!!"

"Debbie, all I used was Pledge," I said. I didn't know that there was other stuff to use back then. They were slippery for a long time. Oh yea, she did get a splinter. She never walked on those hardwood floor in her barefeet again.

Pictured above are Debbie, Carol, Dee and Cindy.

Debbie, I'll always remember all the great things that we did together.
You will be missed.
Dee