Deborah Sue Abbott was born December 29, 1953, to Raymond Joseph Jacobs and Eva Helen Jacobs in Hays, KS. Deborah graduated from Arvada High School in 1972 and, after raising her children, went back to college at Regis University in Denver. There, she was honored with an offer of fellowship, which she declined in order to pursue a passion she had had since visiting her grandparents' farm as a child-being a farmer.
Deborah realized her lifelong dream of farming after working as a telemetry technician at St. Anthony's Hospital, in security for the Department of Energy at the Rocky Flats facility in Boulder, CO, and in the Medical Records Department of St. Joseph's Hospital in Kansas City, MO. Deborah raised registered Black Angus cattle and took great pride in her innate ability to judge the quality of the animals, often surprising other growers with far more experience.
Deborah married her High School love Gary Abbott on October 8, 1971, at St. Anne's Church in Arvada, CO. In 52 years of marriage, friendship and partnership, they had two children, five grandchildren and four great-grandchildren. Deborah pursued every task and interest with ferocity and passion, especially writing. She published a book, a personal memoir, When I Grow Up, I Want to be a Farmer. Those who knew her best sometimes described her as "a force to be reckoned with." She was known for being tough and unyielding but also kind and generous.
Deborah Sue Abbott is preceded in death by her parents. She is survived by her husband; son, Paul (Kelli) Abbott of Clinton, MO; daughter Jennifer (Mark) Stagner of Warrensburg, MO; grandchildren: Oksana, Lacy, Wesley, Jennifer and Alyssa; brothers: John Jacobs and David Jacobs; sister, Christine Connelly; and nephew and nieces.
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