Deborah “Debbie” Ann Lewis Roberts
Nov. 21, 1954 - Feb. 11, 2024

Our mom, Debbie, was a Humboldt County native, born in Eureka and raised on the Hoopa Valley Indian Reservation. She graduated from Hoopa High School. She was a proud member of the Yurok Tribe.

Debbie graduated from College of the Redwoods Associate Nursing Program when she was 20 years old. She then served a long and productive career as a R.N., with roles in the hospital, home health care (Redding, Ca.) skilled nursing, and dialysis. In her free time she was also a dedicated student of holistic medicine. When she retired, she was a manager at UIHS Potowat Health Village in Arcata, a role she loved immensely.

Debbie was a life-long learner, skilled practitioner, and good listener who helped many people along her path. She took immense pride in her work and her dedication always shined bright. She had a knack for helping people and a gift for putting her patients at ease. At the same time, she had an inspiring work ethic and brave spirit.

Debbie will be remembered by all as a supremely kind and creative soul. She could always be found cooking, listening to music, singing, making art, exploring photography, writing and traveling.

She also cross-stitched, crocheted, painted, sewed and made beautiful jewelry, just like her mother. Debbie was an avid reader and loved to get lost in a good mystery. She loved hummingbirds, the Big Dipper, herbs, flowers, gardens, coffee, Star Trek, a fast drive over the mountains and her impeccably kept cats.

For her grandchildren she supplied a library of books, as she wanted to share her passion for reading with them. In this life, she wanted people to feel appreciated and loved and gave back to many in the North Coast, her home, which she always described as “a place with unbelievable beauty with its beaches, redwoods and forests.” The majestic nature of Humboldt County is where she was born and where she belonged through and through.

Debbie’s last years were spent caring for and being with her beloved mother, Barbara Jean Lewis. After her mother passed, Debbie faced head on, with the upmost inner strength and courage her own autoimmune illnesses and lung disease. Before she was too ill to travel, she spent a decade of summers with her incredibly loved grandchildren. They were her pride and joy.

If you feel called to honor, Debbie, do something nice for someone. In her last years, her voice was taken from her so another way to honor her would be to sing or speak your heart out to the world. She understood the importance of words, so she would remind us to choose our words carefully and to ask ourselves the well loved question of, “Is it true? Is it necessary? Is it kind?”

She is survived by her daughters, Rose and Hannah Roberts; her son-in-law, Sean London; her beloved grandchildren, Sloane and Corbin; her siblings, Sherlette Colegrove, Michael Lewis, Pamela (Arnie) Wickerd and Cheryl (Frank) Tuttle; her nieces and nephews Misty (Brian) Jensen, Jenea (Slade) Lawrence, Ruby (Pyuwa) Bommelyn, Mariah Lewis, Nathan (Cat) Wickerd, Michael (Amber) Lewis, and Koiya (Brianna) Tuttle. Debbie was preceded in death by her parents, Pete and Barbara Lewis; her brother Ernest (Butch) Lewis III; her two dear high school friends who passed very young whom she never stopped loving, Kim and Linda.

In an incredible twist to her journey on Earth, she passed away on the same day as her father, 15 years apart.

To end we would like to share with you a writing that our mom wrote as an exchange in 2021 after her own mother passed. The words she wrote are so beautiful….just like her.

“Honey. Enveloped in the sweetness of the golden honey… The name Deborah in Hebrew translates to “bee”.. …

As found in the Bible in the book of Judges..

Spent most of my life “busy as a bee” and didn’t realize that it was an inherent trait.

Honey is seen in the spiritual aspect of representing immortality…….. as our souls live on once we leave this earthly plane to another dimension that is not visible to our eyes, only felt with our heart and so gentle.

Now that I am not able to be so busy, it is becoming easier to feel with my heart and know that there are many souls helping and guiding me as I get ready to return home.

Honey.”

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The obituary above was submitted on behalf of Debbie Roberts’ loved ones. The Lost Coast Outpost runs obituaries of Humboldt County residents at no charge. See guidelines here.