Debbie Walker: a dear friend

Debbie Walker

by Peg Pellerin

Like many of you readers, I was so surprised and shocked to read that we lost one of our fellow writers. Debbie Walker was such an inspiration to me to start writing and thankfully be able to submit my writings to this paper.

I first met Debbie through my boyfriend Edgar. Many times, in her articles she would mention his name, telling all of you of some of the funny things that his sons had done, or said, as children and also sharing some of the things his own father said.

One day, after reading her articles in The Town Line, Edgar emailed her about meeting for lunch to talk about some old stories that he had about his father and his brothers when they were still home up in Lille, Maine, many years ago. This was just before she made the move to Florida.

Soon after, I started emailing her, letting her know how I enjoyed her articles and even used some of the hints she mentioned within those articles. Back in 2020, when schools were going through a hybrid mode, I told Debbie about the assistant principal where I was working who wore many hats, filling in for folks who weren’t able to come in to work. She told me to write something about it, which I did. She said it was done so well that I should submit it myself to The Town Line, which I did, and they printed it! She had been after me to continue with writing, but I just didn’t know how to start.

A couple of summers ago, Edgar and I went to visit her at a camp here in Maine where she was staying for a while. She and I got to talking again about my writing and we went into more detail about my going about it. Thanks to her advice, I wrote the story titled The House, which this paper ran for several months.

I’ll miss reading her articles and the emails she, Edgar, and I shared. She was a wonderful individual.