- Date Of Birth: February 2, 1956
- Date Of Death: August 25, 2017
- State: Illinois
Deborahlynn P. Smith, age 61, passed away peacefully with her family at her side on Friday, August 25th, 2017.
She will be lovingly remembered by her husband of 23 years Earle Moote, her children, Cassandra and Nathanael Smith, her friends, her siblings, and many nieces, and nephews.
A native of Freeport, Illinois, Deborahlynn was born February 2nd, 1956, the 4th of 7 children, to Robert and Margaret (Rinderman) Plum.
Deborah graduated from Freeport High School in 1974. Afterwards she worked at Micro Switch for two years. In 1976 she joined the US Air Force and was stationed in Gila Bend, Arizona and later at Creech AFB, Nevada. She was promoted to a supervisor as Staff Sergeant, and specialized in simulated warfare defending ground-based bunkers from attacking fighter jets.
Deborah graduated with a B.A. in Mathematics from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign in 1986. She married Craig Smith PhD in 1986 who gave her two beautiful children, Cassandra and Nathanael. After their daughter was born they moved to the Congo Basin of Central Africa for several years, where their son was born. They also lived outside Kathmandu, Nepal near a Hindu Temple for a period of time.
Upon returning to Illinois, Deborah and Craig purchased four acres outside Stockton where Deborahlynn managed several greenhouses and a nursery for eight years.
Deborahlynn married her second husband, Earle Moote, in 1994. They moved to Madison, Wisconsin in 1999 where Deborah worked hard to continue raising her two kids while working as an Assistant Manager at Walgreens for over 10 years.
Deborah had a love for gardening and a great affection for Monarch butterflies. She also had a great fondness for her cats throughout her life. She loved sci-fi novels and nature TV shows. Deborah was also very passionate about respecting the Earth and recycled as much as she could.
She cultivated an astounding number of gardens full of flowers, milkweed, and other pollinator plants for honeybees, bumblebees, butterflies, many species of birds, and more. In addition to maintaining this Monarch Waystation, she developed her land to become an animal sanctuary, feeding turkeys, bunnies, birds, and other creatures of many kinds, especially during the freezing winter months.
She donated to countless nature and animal organizations, such as the Humane Society, Ocean Conservatory, National Parks Conservation Association, Xerces Society, Nature Conservancy, and many more.
She is survived by her husband Earle Moote, her daughter Cassandra Smith, and her son Nathanael Smith.
