Debra Gideon
Carmichaels
Debra “Debbie” Marie DeVault Gideon of Carmichaels, Pennsylvania passed from this life on Friday, March 24, 2023, surrounded by love and with her daughter and other members of her family by her side. Full of wit, joy, song, and just the right amount of sass to the very end, cancer claimed her physical health but never her spirit. She was 68.
Debbie was born in Morgantown, West Virginia on Christmas Eve 1954 daughter of the late Leonard W. and Louise DeVault. The middle of seven sisters, she grew up along the banks of the Monongahela River: first in Beechwood, West Virginia, and later, in Greensboro, Pennsylvania.
She was a 1972 graduate of Mapletown High School.
She married Phillip Gideon in September 1972. Though they later divorced, they share a daughter, Dr. Christine Stephenson; son-in-law, Kurt Stephenson; and two grandchildren, Anya and Gideon Stephenson; and maintained an uncommon and life-long kinship. Debbie’s dedication to her family, and especially to her grandchildren, was boundless, pure, and complete. Her unconditional love and light shaped them all in so many important and subtle ways, and her vibrancy and humor live on in them.
In the early 1980s, Debbie began her career in banking at the First National Bank of Carmichaels, later Community Bank. Her intelligence, enthusiasm, and genuine care for her clients and colleagues animated her professional life. She retired from her position as a Vice President and Business Development Officer in 2018, after more than 30 years of service.
Her commitment to her community was evident in the many boards and committees on which she served over the years, including but not limited to the Carmichaels Chamber of Commerce and the Flenniken Public Library Board.
She was raised in the First Baptist Church of Greensboro and in later years joined the Greene Valley Presbyterian Church of Carmichaels.
Through her generosity of spirit, understated strength, and quiet dedication to volunteerism, history, literature, nature, and gardening, she sought to create, protect, or amplify beauty and connection in all areas of her and others’ lives. She embodied a philosophy of living well captured in the lines of the Irish poet Edgar Guest: “strangers are friends that we some day may meet, and not all the bitter may equal the sweet” (“Faith,” 1915).
No chronicle of her life would be complete without a nod to her love of sports. Few things brought her as much joy as cheering her grandkids, nieces, and nephews in their various athletic pursuits, and she enthusiastically supported the Pittsburgh Steelers, the West Virginia Mountaineers, and the Wisconsin Badgers across seasons. Above all, though, she loved baseball, the Pittsburgh Pirates, and Roberto Clemente. Clemente’s extraordinary legacy of compassion and his belief that “If you have a chance to make life better for others and fail to do so, you are wasting your time on this earth” was a constant source of inspiration and an example she strove to follow.
Debbie was predeceased by her father, mother, and an infant sister, Joyce. She is survived, in addition to her daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren, by five sisters: Kandy (Mike) Gashie, Vicki (Roy) Anderson, Pamela Yoskovich, Robin DeVault, and Mary (Brian) Blaker; 11 nieces and nephews: Stacey (Thomas) Flynn, Bridgette (Kevin) Parsons, Andrea (Mike) Rumble, Jenny (Mike) Logue, LtCol Joseph L. (Tess) Yoskovich USMC, Rebecca (Joel) Fouse, Gregory Husaim, Sgt Matthew O. Yoskovich USMC, Joyce (TJ) Dunn, Amy Blaker, and David (Erin) Blaker; 18 great-nieces and nephews; a beloved Aunt and Uncle, Richard and Ruth DeVault; a network of lively and cherished cousins; countless friends who feel just like family; and her “adopted” daughter-in-spirit, Dr. Lucy Wood.
A celebration of her life will be planned for later this Spring. In lieu of flowers, the family encourages anyone wishing to honor Debbie’s life and memory to make a donation to any of the following: HairPeace.org, UPMC Hillman Cancer Center, the American Lung Association, or the American Cancer Society. Arrangements are under the direction of Yoskovich Funeral Home. For additional information and to sign the online guest book, please visit www.YoskovichFH.com.