![Debbie Fitzgerald Woman with dark hair and glasses](/images/cache/d58836ff69098cdaf3f24dab9f5db58b_w180_h180 crop.jpg)
Debbie Fitzgerald bio
Deborah Jane Fitzgerald was born June 15, 1972, to Karen and Stanley Fitzgerald in Queens, New York. She was one of nine children, and her parents worked long hours to support the family, leaving them with little time or attention to spare for their children. They often relied on Debbie to look after her younger siblings.
As a result, Debbie grew up independent and self-reliant. At age sixteen, she found herself pregnant and abandoned by the boy who claimed to love her. Her angry parents sent her to Nebraska to stay with her Aunt Linda until the baby was born.
Debbie never saw the baby after she gave birth and only knew it was a girl because a nurse let it slip. The infant was immediately adopted by a wealthy couple in the East.
Though her parents expected Debbie to return home, she remained in Lincoln. She never went back to school, claiming it couldn't teach her anything about real life. Her aunt said Debbie was suffering from the "baby blues." Her family hoped she would snap out of it, but she never seemed to.
Debbie worked in her aunt's dress shop for two years, trying to learn the trade, but she had no talent for clothing or style. She paid no attention to her appearance, hair, or skin.
At 18, she left Nebraska and her aunt to travel the country. While working in a rib joint in Chicago, she met a salesman named Sam, who was kind and funny and liked her just like she was. Debbie was swept off her feet, and they married six months later.
Suddenly, everything seemed brighter. Debbie wanted to have a child to fill the empty spot left by the little girl she gave away, but Sam was gone for weeks at a time on the road. When he returned, he made no attempt to cover up the evidence of his dalliances with other women. After two years of hoping he'd change, Debbie packed her bags and left.
Eventually, she ended up in Detroit, where she got a job on a Ford assembly line. There, she met Marty Dumbrowski, a simple man with a good heart but little else going for him. They became friends, going out for beer and pizza and occasional bowling dates. After only six months, Marty proposed marriage, and Debbie accepted, preferring his company to spending her life alone.
Unlike Sam, Marty was faithful and attentive to his wife. They tried desperately to have a baby but to no avail. They talked about adopting, but their age and income made it hard to qualify, and the waiting list was years long.
Five years ago, Marty went out to get a pack of cigarettes for Debbie. As he pulled out of the convenience store parking lot, a drunk teenage driver ran a red light and slammed into him, killing himself and Marty on impact. That's when Debbie realized life was just hard and would never get any easier. She stopped worrying about how much she smoked or drank or ate. She just stopped caring.
Debbie drifted through life until God answered her prayers and provided an opportunity to reunite with the daughter she'd never known but always longed for. Life had meaning for her once again.
A few months ago, she moved to Oxford, Mississippi, where she works the second shift at a big box store and is involved in the St Peter's Episcopal Church program for underprivileged children.