Deborah was born at the Fort Monroe Army Hospital in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Her young mother, Vivian, worked for the civil service as a clerk typist on the post. Her father, Master Sargent Charles E. (Elmer) Schwarz, was serving in the Korean War the evening she was born. Her mother and older sister Judy were living with her mother's parents at 309 South Hope Street in Phoebus, Va while her dad was off to war.
Debbie was an astonishingly lovely and happy infant. As a small child, she won beauty pagents, loved to sing and dance on the bartop of Fort Monroe's NCO Club (which her father managed when he got back from Korea), was taught more than a few "bad" words by the soldier customers, and yearned to spend every day of the summer either swimming or enjoying the delights of Buckroe Beach Amusement Park.
Sadly, all this came to a brutal end when her mother moved the two sisters to El Paso, Texas to follow a married officer. When their divorces from their first mates came through, they married, and the colonel ruled the roast. There was far less laughter, singing or happiness in their desert home surrounded by their mother's rock gardens instead of the lush green of Tidewater Virginia or the smell of the Chesapeake Bay. Debbie's grandfather simply and truly adored her, and it broke his heart to see his daughter and her girls go so far away. He never saw them again, dying of a heart attack not long after.
When she couldn't seem to get anyone to listen to her about what was happening at home, the older sister started running away, but Debbie was too young to leave the beatings and mental torture of living with their mother's new husband. At one point, the family was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, and Debbie learned Turkish quickly, had many friends, and learned how to break into the liquor cabinet at age 9. Afer they returned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, life at home became even more hard to take.
At 15, Debbie came to stay with her sister in San Francisco and gave birth to her first child at the Presidio Army Hospital, a daughter named Jennifer. Her daughter was adopted by a Navy family, and Debbie was forced to return to El Paso to her mother and stepfather, whose name she now carried. She started running away regularly, and finally was allowed by her mother to stay in Phoenix with a caring family. By this time, Debbie was doing drugs and drinking to forget.
After she graduated from high school, she moved back to El Paso to live with her mother who had finally left the "banana slug", as he will be forever remembered by what remains of this family. She met Frank and Denise Connelly and formed a strong family unit with them and others, including Jeannette and Tommy. With a tattoo shop to support them, Debbie gave birth to two sons, Kawliga Lee and Randy Roy. Denise gave birth to two daughters, Georgia Pearl and Hazel Marie, and one son, Francis Pearl. Both mothers raised all the children with no concern about who had given birth to whom. Eventually, money grew very tight and life got harder, but there was a lot of laughter and love in that ramshackle house along with the rough times.
Like many in her family, Debbie was stubborn and didn't always make the right choices for herself or her children. Being poor and increasing sick did not help. She died too young after a hard life, but she loved life and was kindness itself, literally giving the shirt off her back if you needed it. She is much missed by many people. She was cremated and her ashes will be scattered in the future according to her wishes, in the San Francisco Bay.
Debbie was an astonishingly lovely and happy infant. As a small child, she won beauty pagents, loved to sing and dance on the bartop of Fort Monroe's NCO Club (which her father managed when he got back from Korea), was taught more than a few "bad" words by the soldier customers, and yearned to spend every day of the summer either swimming or enjoying the delights of Buckroe Beach Amusement Park.
Sadly, all this came to a brutal end when her mother moved the two sisters to El Paso, Texas to follow a married officer. When their divorces from their first mates came through, they married, and the colonel ruled the roast. There was far less laughter, singing or happiness in their desert home surrounded by their mother's rock gardens instead of the lush green of Tidewater Virginia or the smell of the Chesapeake Bay. Debbie's grandfather simply and truly adored her, and it broke his heart to see his daughter and her girls go so far away. He never saw them again, dying of a heart attack not long after.
When she couldn't seem to get anyone to listen to her about what was happening at home, the older sister started running away, but Debbie was too young to leave the beatings and mental torture of living with their mother's new husband. At one point, the family was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, and Debbie learned Turkish quickly, had many friends, and learned how to break into the liquor cabinet at age 9. Afer they returned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, life at home became even more hard to take.
At 15, Debbie came to stay with her sister in San Francisco and gave birth to her first child at the Presidio Army Hospital, a daughter named Jennifer. Her daughter was adopted by a Navy family, and Debbie was forced to return to El Paso to her mother and stepfather, whose name she now carried. She started running away regularly, and finally was allowed by her mother to stay in Phoenix with a caring family. By this time, Debbie was doing drugs and drinking to forget.
After she graduated from high school, she moved back to El Paso to live with her mother who had finally left the "banana slug", as he will be forever remembered by what remains of this family. She met Frank and Denise Connelly and formed a strong family unit with them and others, including Jeannette and Tommy. With a tattoo shop to support them, Debbie gave birth to two sons, Kawliga Lee and Randy Roy. Denise gave birth to two daughters, Georgia Pearl and Hazel Marie, and one son, Francis Pearl. Both mothers raised all the children with no concern about who had given birth to whom. Eventually, money grew very tight and life got harder, but there was a lot of laughter and love in that ramshackle house along with the rough times.
Like many in her family, Debbie was stubborn and didn't always make the right choices for herself or her children. Being poor and increasing sick did not help. She died too young after a hard life, but she loved life and was kindness itself, literally giving the shirt off her back if you needed it. She is much missed by many people. She was cremated and her ashes will be scattered in the future according to her wishes, in the San Francisco Bay.
Deborah was born at the Fort Monroe Army Hospital in Fort Monroe, Virginia. Her young mother, Vivian, worked for the civil service as a clerk typist on the post. Her father, Master Sargent Charles E. (Elmer) Schwarz, was serving in the Korean War the evening she was born. Her mother and older sister Judy were living with her mother's parents at 309 South Hope Street in Phoebus, Va while her dad was off to war.
Debbie was an astonishingly lovely and happy infant. As a small child, she won beauty pagents, loved to sing and dance on the bartop of Fort Monroe's NCO Club (which her father managed when he got back from Korea), was taught more than a few "bad" words by the soldier customers, and yearned to spend every day of the summer either swimming or enjoying the delights of Buckroe Beach Amusement Park.
Sadly, all this came to a brutal end when her mother moved the two sisters to El Paso, Texas to follow a married officer. When their divorces from their first mates came through, they married, and the colonel ruled the roast. There was far less laughter, singing or happiness in their desert home surrounded by their mother's rock gardens instead of the lush green of Tidewater Virginia or the smell of the Chesapeake Bay. Debbie's grandfather simply and truly adored her, and it broke his heart to see his daughter and her girls go so far away. He never saw them again, dying of a heart attack not long after.
When she couldn't seem to get anyone to listen to her about what was happening at home, the older sister started running away, but Debbie was too young to leave the beatings and mental torture of living with their mother's new husband. At one point, the family was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, and Debbie learned Turkish quickly, had many friends, and learned how to break into the liquor cabinet at age 9. Afer they returned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, life at home became even more hard to take.
At 15, Debbie came to stay with her sister in San Francisco and gave birth to her first child at the Presidio Army Hospital, a daughter named Jennifer. Her daughter was adopted by a Navy family, and Debbie was forced to return to El Paso to her mother and stepfather, whose name she now carried. She started running away regularly, and finally was allowed by her mother to stay in Phoenix with a caring family. By this time, Debbie was doing drugs and drinking to forget.
After she graduated from high school, she moved back to El Paso to live with her mother who had finally left the "banana slug", as he will be forever remembered by what remains of this family. She met Frank and Denise Connelly and formed a strong family unit with them and others, including Jeannette and Tommy. With a tattoo shop to support them, Debbie gave birth to two sons, Kawliga Lee and Randy Roy. Denise gave birth to two daughters, Georgia Pearl and Hazel Marie, and one son, Francis Pearl. Both mothers raised all the children with no concern about who had given birth to whom. Eventually, money grew very tight and life got harder, but there was a lot of laughter and love in that ramshackle house along with the rough times.
Like many in her family, Debbie was stubborn and didn't always make the right choices for herself or her children. Being poor and increasing sick did not help. She died too young after a hard life, but she loved life and was kindness itself, literally giving the shirt off her back if you needed it. She is much missed by many people. She was cremated and her ashes will be scattered in the future according to her wishes, in the San Francisco Bay.
Debbie was an astonishingly lovely and happy infant. As a small child, she won beauty pagents, loved to sing and dance on the bartop of Fort Monroe's NCO Club (which her father managed when he got back from Korea), was taught more than a few "bad" words by the soldier customers, and yearned to spend every day of the summer either swimming or enjoying the delights of Buckroe Beach Amusement Park.
Sadly, all this came to a brutal end when her mother moved the two sisters to El Paso, Texas to follow a married officer. When their divorces from their first mates came through, they married, and the colonel ruled the roast. There was far less laughter, singing or happiness in their desert home surrounded by their mother's rock gardens instead of the lush green of Tidewater Virginia or the smell of the Chesapeake Bay. Debbie's grandfather simply and truly adored her, and it broke his heart to see his daughter and her girls go so far away. He never saw them again, dying of a heart attack not long after.
When she couldn't seem to get anyone to listen to her about what was happening at home, the older sister started running away, but Debbie was too young to leave the beatings and mental torture of living with their mother's new husband. At one point, the family was stationed in Ankara, Turkey, and Debbie learned Turkish quickly, had many friends, and learned how to break into the liquor cabinet at age 9. Afer they returned to Fort Bliss in El Paso, life at home became even more hard to take.
At 15, Debbie came to stay with her sister in San Francisco and gave birth to her first child at the Presidio Army Hospital, a daughter named Jennifer. Her daughter was adopted by a Navy family, and Debbie was forced to return to El Paso to her mother and stepfather, whose name she now carried. She started running away regularly, and finally was allowed by her mother to stay in Phoenix with a caring family. By this time, Debbie was doing drugs and drinking to forget.
After she graduated from high school, she moved back to El Paso to live with her mother who had finally left the "banana slug", as he will be forever remembered by what remains of this family. She met Frank and Denise Connelly and formed a strong family unit with them and others, including Jeannette and Tommy. With a tattoo shop to support them, Debbie gave birth to two sons, Kawliga Lee and Randy Roy. Denise gave birth to two daughters, Georgia Pearl and Hazel Marie, and one son, Francis Pearl. Both mothers raised all the children with no concern about who had given birth to whom. Eventually, money grew very tight and life got harder, but there was a lot of laughter and love in that ramshackle house along with the rough times.
Like many in her family, Debbie was stubborn and didn't always make the right choices for herself or her children. Being poor and increasing sick did not help. She died too young after a hard life, but she loved life and was kindness itself, literally giving the shirt off her back if you needed it. She is much missed by many people. She was cremated and her ashes will be scattered in the future according to her wishes, in the San Francisco Bay.
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