In Memory

Debra Kay Ward



 
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04/29/14 09:43 PM #1    

J. D. Webster

Debra (Debbie) Kay Ward was born along with a fraternal twin brother on 14 July 1955 near Springfield, OH to Oliver Bayward Ward and Nelda Marie Ward (Keener). Early in their childhood their mother passed away from a neurodegenerative genetic disorder known as Huntington’s disease, a fatal and incurable condition in which muscle coordination and cognitive ability declines over time, often invoking psychiatric as well as physical problems that eventually lead to death. The disease generally manifests itself in early adulthood. Typically, all children born to any parent with this genetic disorder are also at risk and usually 50 percent of them will also develop this disease.

After her mother’s death, and with her father struggling to raise them, Debra Kay was separated from her twin brother and sent to live with her aunt in Huntsville Alabama, who raised her as her own. This is how Debra came to be in Alabama and to attend Grissom High School. Most of us remember her as shy, beautiful and quirky. She was fun with a great sense of humor – I know since she was one of my best homeroom buddies during those days and we always joked around. Following graduation, I lost track of her. But her father, who is now in his 90s and still living in Ohio, related to me by phone that Debra stayed in Huntsville, and did not elect to further her education at the university level, instead finding a factory job in town where she learned to weld and solder and became a union worker. She never married, nor had children and such was her tragic fate that, in her twenties, she too developed Huntington’s Disease, a risk she must have been fully aware of since many members of her mother’s family had been stricken by it. She lived with it as best she could, until as the years went by, conditions reached the point where she could no longer care for herself. Her father and other relatives helped move her back to Ohio in the early 1990’s. In August of 1994 she was hospitalized, suffering severe physical debilitations and the onset of dementia. After about a month in the hospital, and in a steady decline, the Angel of Mercy finally came and delivered her from her suffering. She died at 2:20AM in the morning of 15 September 1994, at the Mercy Medical Center in Springfield Ohio. Debra Kay is buried at Glenn Haven Memorial Cemetery; far from her Alma Mater and classmates, but close to her family.

Debbie was 39 years old at the time of her passing. Let us remember her for the smiles she gave us as a classmate and let us acknowledge the courage it must have taken to live with the condition she had. If you have any additional information or stories about Debbie Ward’s life, please share them here.


04/30/14 12:49 AM #2    

Mary Beth Given

This is one of the saddest, and certainly the most thought-provoking, In Memory entries I have read.  I had absolutely no idea about any of this, and I would venture to say many of us did not.  I cannot even imagine the hell she lived with every single day, as you said, having a pretty good idea of what her future was going to hold.  Huntington's is a horrible, horrible disease.  

We sometimes think we "know" our classmates/other people, or at least enough to "make observations about" (read that, "pass judgment on") their intellect, appearance, character, etc.--but in reality, we do not.  This piece brought that home in a very concrete way.

Debra Kay Ward, I honor your courage.  I wish I had known you.


04/30/14 02:41 PM #3    

Connie Tucker (Long)

I am proud to have known Debra Ward. She lived with family on Maplecrest Drive. I still drive by her old house and think of Junior High at Mountain Gap and our years at GHS. J.D.- Thank you for sharing the tragic end to Debra's short life. She was certainly witty and enjoyed making others laugh"


07/19/16 12:11 PM #4    

Cindy Aikens (Kimbro)

Debbie was one of my bestfriends in school, I miss her everyday.


07/20/16 08:39 PM #5    

Debbie Dennis (Kavossi)

I did not know Debra Wards family but, was upset when I  went to the 10th year reunion and saw that Debra's picture at the memorial table. I did not know her family history. I will say she was a very sweet girl and had a sweet smile and spirit . I am  so glad that I was able to know her.


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