Saying Goodbye to Miss Debbie

About seven years ago, Jeni came home talking about a woman she saw working at Goodwill who she felt called to befriend. On Friday, that friend passed away and went home to be with the Lord.

Debora McMillian (Miss Debbie) caught Jeni’s eye because she has a form of Cerebral Palsy that reminded her of the Cerebral Palsy in our oldest son. She worked as a greeter for the Goodwill nearest our house and Jeni made it a point to talk with her. A conversation grew into a lunch and that lunch bloomed into a friendship. Debbie wanted to go to church so Jeni picked her up, brought her, and the friendship became fellowship. Debbie began coming into our home for meals, birthday parties, and many games of Uno. Then it was Christmas, Thanksgiving, Easter, and even a few times spending the night; Debbie loved Jeni’s cheese quiche in the morning. Over the course of a few years, what began as a conversation at Goodwill had grown into Debbie becoming part of our family. (There was never a legal adoption, but Jeni was both her power of attorney and her healthcare surrogate.)

We had the privilege of seeing Debbie become an active member of our church and an expected guest at extended family functions. She went on ladies’ retreats and went to Bunco nights. She went with us to the movies and FSU football games (she loved the ‘Noles!) She loved our kids and made it a point to buy them gifts for their birthdays and Christmas. She wanted to live fully and, for the most part, she did.

Sadly, Debbie endured some pretty intense health challenges over the last couple of years. She fell and broke her back. She lost lots of weight due to eating and digestion challenges. And, like so many others, she had a bout with COVID. But Debbie was a fighter, and with Jeni in her corner, she overcame all of that and kept on living a vibrant, joyful life all the way up to her bright pink hair color. But this past week something happened that took Debbie from us.

We don’t know all the details, but she was struggling to the point her nurse team called an ambulance to get her to the hospital. At some point in that journey, Debbie passed away. Jeni got that sad and surprising call at about 7:00 PM on Friday and she spent the evening comforting grieving kids while shedding tears of her own.

The last couple of days have been emotional and challenging. Neither of us have attended to funeral planning before and we’ve been learning a lot. One of the things we’ve learned is that funerals and memorials are expensive. That’s why we’re asking for help.

We have money to cover about 40% of the projected costs, but we are hoping the Lord might provide about $7,500 more to cover everything. It’s been my experience, that people like doing things to help like buying flowers, providing meals, etc. We would be grateful for both! However, what we need is help buying a coffin, paying for the graveside services, hosting the funeral, etc.

If the Lord wills, then we will cover the costs personally. But, if you would like to help us say goodbye to Miss Debbie then we would be grateful.

You can read the obituary Jeni wrote about Miss Debbie and find out the service times here - https://www.bevisfh.com/obituaries/Debora-Mcmillan/