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Deborah Lee Atwood |
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July 17, 1961 ~ June 3, 2017 |
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June 5, 2017 |
Deborah Lee Spalding Atwood, 55, died after a
long and fearless battle with cancer, passing
away peacefully at her home near Bonners Ferry
on June 3, 2017, with her husband and family by
her side.
A service will be held at 1 p.m. Saturday, June
17, at Trinity Lutheran Church in Bonners Ferry,
followed by a private family committal at
Grandview Cemetery. Some of Debbie's ashes will
be spread at a later date.
A Celebration of Life and potluck will take
place the same day starting at 5 p.m. at the
home of Ron Atwood, 931 Treetop Bluff Lane,
Bonners Ferry. Please bring your memories and
stories of Debbie to share.
Debbie was born in Bonners Ferry on July 17,
1961, to Frank and Anna May Spalding. She
attended grade school in Bonners Ferry and
graduated from Bonners Ferry High in 1980. She
worked at Deep Creek Lodge fulltime after
graduating and there is where she met and worked
with the love of her life and future husband,
Ron.
They married in June of 1981, living at Deep
Creek until 1983, when they decided to seek
there fortune in Alaska. The plan was to stay a
few years and return home. They stayed 25 years.
Debbie worked the first two years as a waitress
in dinner houses in Anchorage then followed her
husband into the oilfields of the North Slope.
She was a housekeeper at the Kuparuk Camp for
the next 18 years. She loved remote work and
deeply cared about her residents.
She retired in 2006, took a year off then worked
her last job as an office administrator with no
formal training. As was her way in life, she
taught herself all the skills needed to succeed
with no schooling.
In 2009 they made the difficult decision to
leave her beloved Alaska. It was time to come
home and be close to her family. Debbie found
her dream piece of land in Paradise Valley,
designing the house herself.
She was always thinking of the next project to
make their home better working on ideas all the
way to the end. If you have been to her house
you know her dreams came true.
Debbie was a natural caregiver who helped people
during her entire life. She did it out of love
and respect with a genuine spirit that showed
her true compassion for people in need. She
would help family, friends and people she did
not even know, it was just her way.
She showed us all how to make the world a little
better one kind act at a time.
Debbie was preceded in death by her father
Frank, father in-law Jay Atwood, and uncles Ray
and Jim Spalding.
She is survived by her husband Ron Atwood,
mother Anna May Spalding and mother in-law Anna
Mae Atwood, sisters Jodie (Jeff) Neumayer and
Heidi (Bobby) Invernon, many uncles and aunts
and 27 nieces and nephews.
The family suggests instead of flowers, that
donations be made in Debbie's memory to Bonner
Community Hospice, Bonners Ferry Cancer Group or
Bonner General Celebration of Life. |
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