Deborah Palmer Redfearn

Deborah Palmer Redfearn, lately of Granville, Ohio, died peacefully at home and surrounded by family on August 3rd, 2023. She is survived by her husband of 60 years, Richard Redfearn; her children and their better halves, Karen (Steve Cummins), Chris (Jen Gold), Mark (Andrea); and ten beloved grandchildren: Lucy, Henry, Avery, Landon, Esme, Simon, Sam, Charlie, George and Ben.

Deborah was born in 1939 to Sidney and Beatrice Palmer and grew up with her brother Norman in Hingham, Massachusetts. Her family moved often as her father’s career with Westinghouse took them to Pennsylvania, Kansas and New Jersey. She attended Wellesley College (Class of 1961) and when, in 1963 she married the dashing Richard, the busy life of a Navy wife and mother of three began. Once Richard retired from active duty, they relocated to East Lansing, Michigan where they both pursued ambitious paths of higher education. Without her three young kids ever suspecting a thing, Deb completed her BA with Honors, and her Master’s in Speech Pathology at Michigan State University. She then joined the faculty at MSU’s Speech and Hearing Clinic, teaching there as well as advising both students and clients. An optimist and pragmatist, Deb was adept at helping her peers and students navigate “the art of the possible.” In her experience, the very things that made a goal challenging – time, planning and sacrifice - were the very things that made it worthy. Hang in there. She saw the big picture and relished the smallest detail. Which may be why a clever crossword puzzle, a genealogical enigma and a sly mystery novel all gave her such satisfaction. Deb lived all over the country. She was good at making friends, creating community and finding family. She was deeply committed to helping others (especially a non-traditional student) and her caring and impactful ethos will endure. Our mom was lovely, fun, stalwart…your all-around smart cookie. She will be missed tremendously. She is an ancestor now. If you are lucky, as we were, she’d be delighted to be one of yours, too.

Burial at Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts will take place at a later date.

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