On Sunday May 18th Debbie went to walk with the Lord following a valiant fight against cancer. She passed away in her home surrounded by family and friends. A Celebration of her life will be held at Linn Memorial United Methodist Church in Fayette, Missouri on Sunday, May 25th, 2008 at 4:00 p.m.Debbie was born in Kansas City, Missouri; daughter of Joyce and Gale Stotlemyre. Her father Paul Gale Stotlemyre passed away when she was only two years old.
Later she moved to Stover, Missouri where she graduated Valedictorian in 1986. From there she attended Central
Methodist College in Fayette Missouri where she lettered in Basketball and Volleyball and served as President of her Sorority as well as being active in several service and education fraternities. She graduated Magna Cum Laude in 1990. She worked on a doctorate in Bio-Chemistry at the University of Missouri for several years. She then attended the School of Veterinary Medicine at the University
of Missouri, Columbia where she graduated in 1998. She practiced small animal medicine at Boonslick Animal Hospital in Boonville Missouri for the past 10 years. She was the president of the West Central Missouri Veterinary Medical Association.
Debbie had a passion for children and served as a house parent at Rainbow House in Columbia from 1993-2000. Debbie loved God and expressed that through the work of Fairview United Methodist
Church in Columbia, Missouri as a worker with youth, a leader in missions, and helping coordinate the annual “Little Bethlehem” live nativity event.
Most of all she relished her role as wife and mother. She married Andrew Upham on October 10th, 1992. She poured her soul into making a fun and loving home with her beloved Andrew and their children Ryan 7 and Megan 4. Debbie is survived by her husband and children, her mother and stepfather Joyce and Dave Williams of Sedalia, Missouri, her brother Michael Stotlemyre of Chillicothe, Ohio, her brother and sister-in-law Gary and Tiffany Smith and their son Stevie of St. Peters, Missouri, her Grandmother Martha Heman and many aunts, uncles, in-laws and friends.
In lieu of flowers, donations to the ongoing ministries to youth at Coyote Hill Christian Children’s Home, www.coyotehill.org, are suggested as a fitting memorial to this wonderful woman.
Tributes can be left online at www.memorialfuneralhomeandcemetery.com
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You may download the complete obituary posted above by clicking here.
It is a pdf file. Should you need the free pdf file reader, you can find it here.
11 comments:
Dear Andy,
My prayers are with you. There is nothing I can say, but I will share Scriptures that were meaningful to me when Scott died.
Psalm 116:15 Precious in the sight of the LORD is the death of his saints.
Job 19:25-27 I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God; I myself will see him
with my own eyes—I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!
Isaiah 57:1-3 - 1 The righteous perish, and no one ponders it in his heart; devout men are taken away, and no one understands
that the righteous are taken away
to be spared from evil.Those who walk uprightly enter into peace;they find rest as they lie in death.
These Scriptures were and are dear to me.
I pray that God will be so present with you!
Love,
Dear Andy,
My name is Eric Moore, and I am the current pastor of Linn Memorial. I never knew you or Debbie personally, having entered CMC in 1991, after your graduations. It's been an a rich joy to know Debbie in a small way through the many expressions of your countless friends.
As the people of Linn Memorial UMC, we're honored as the church on the campus you met and fell in love to be the setting for this fitting celebration of her life. You and your children and all your loved ones will be faithfully in my prayers in these days ahead. Let me know if there's anything I can do in the days ahead.
Blessings,
Rev. Eric Moore, CMC '96
Pastor - Linn Memorial UMC
Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights. No one said a word to him, because they saw how great his suffering was. Job 2:13
Sherryl
Andy,
I grieve with you and my heart overflows with emotions that are hard to express.
God tells us in Romans 12 that His plan is "good, pleasing, and perfect" but it doesn't seem possible that Debbie's death could be any of these things. At least not now...at least not for you and the children and the rest of us left here without Deb.
I regret that Rob and I won't be able to come up to Fayette this weekend, but we are praying for you and for you to find the strength for each moment in our Lord God.
Love,
Win
I'm sorry that I won't be able to be in Fayette tomorrow, but I will keep you and your family in my thoughts and prayers. Debbie was a really neat lady and I'm glad I had the opportunity to meet her.
Nancy Jo Day
jrice1@mchsi.com: Hi Andy. Mac & I & the girls have been living in Bettendorf, Iowa, for a little over 2 years now. We went to church with your family at Fairview UMC. I keep up with Columbia news via the Tribune online. I saw the obit yesterday & so I googled you & Deb & found your blog. Mac & I wanted to share our condolences with you, Ryan, & Megan. I read your blogs for the past 2 weeks so am somewhat up to speed as to what happened. We are SO sorry & you & your kids are in our thoughts & prayers. May God be with you. Your faith is amazing. Hug those children tight! They have a wonderful father to take care of them!
Jenny, Mac, Mackenzie (8), & Stephanie (5) Rice
Dear Andy, Megan, and Ryan,
My prayers are with you.
Words have a hard time of describing how compassionate and caring Deb was. As a 4-H kid years ago she taught me about the basics of vet science, parasites, etc., helped us take care of the family pets, and occasionally a pig or two. More recently she served as an excellent mentor and inspiration as I was going through vet school. I just thought I would pass along a few things she was to me, in the short time I had the honor of sharing with such a truly great person. She will be dearly missed.
With Love,
Dr. Andrea Reuter
Andy,
I don't know if you remember us (Kevin & Debbie Faber), but we attended Fairview for a few years before moving to Iowa City 6 years ago. I was exploring websites looking for a church in our new home in Fargo, ND when I decided to check out what was happening at Fairview (I still miss it there). I was shocked to see that Debbie was fighting cancer. I read your blog and I was going to write sooner, but we had to travel to Minneapolis for surgery for my daughter Sarah. While in the hospital we learned that her roommate (no more than 17 years old) was starting her first chemo treatment for chondrosarcoma. I kept thinking of Debbie and you and your kids and praying for all of you. It wasn't until we got back that I learned that Debbie was with God. Although we didn't know you very well or for very long, we do know that Debbie was a very special and loving person and did wonderful things at Fairview. We are saddened by your loss and our prayers are with you and your family.
God Bless,
Debbie, Kevin, Sarah & Andrew Faber
Andy,
I wanted to record a couple of quick thoughts about Debbie:
I will certainly never forget the first time I met Debbie. You introduced us back in about 1988 at a party on campus in Fayette. I had come down to vist you for a weekend from Mizzou. The party was typical college party with talking and dancing. I remember Debbie as being a confident person who was easy to have a conversation with.
I also remember sitting with you and Debbie years later the day after your wedding in her house. You and she were opening wedding gifts. I believe I was making records of the gifts and loading the car with presents for the trip back to Columbia. What an enjoyable time.
Tom Dean
I receive a daily scripture from K-Love. I listen to them from work via streaming as there is no local station at this time.
After the Celebration Sunday, I read my email and this is the May 25th Encouraging Word:
"He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless" Isaiah 40:29
A Deeper Look:
"What enemy do you face? Don't panic. God is still all-powerful, and he loves you. God brought you through before, and he will do it again."
"Do not be afraid." Wonderful words to live by. Thank you, Debbie, for the excellent example!
Debbie B.
Andy, Ryan and Megan:
I have been trying to sum up my thoughts about Debbie and how she affected lives. I remember one Sunday School Class when she shared she was struggling with how difficult it was to balance church and making shure she was spending quality time with her family. And raising Ryan and Megan to know and love the God she served. I found this in the Upper Room one day. I felt it summed up how she did serve God at home and away.
Paul addresses this question -- by describing the spiritual unity of our lives : "Whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God" (Col 3:17). Paul doesn't draw lines that divide secular and spiritual, the "real" world and worship. All of it is part of our discipleship.
If we do as Paul suggests, we can transform our daily lives. If we bring everything we do and offer it to God, we can unite work and family. By offering our work continually to God, we can turn our work into prayer and find ourselves praying unceasingly. We can do "everything" -- the most pleasing and the most onerous tasks alike -- as a labor of love by which we live and grow in the spirit of Christ.
The late Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote, "The prayer of the Christian reaches beyond its set time and extends into the heart of [one's] work. It includes the whole day, and in doing so, it does not hinder the work; it promotes it, affirms it, and lends it meaning and joy. Thus every word, every work, every labor of the Christian becomes a prayer"
We know from the writings in this blog that Debbie accomplished this and we Thank God for her life among us.
Gary and Marion Moreau
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