Deborah Estes

Deborah Marie Parker was born on September 16, 1953 In Roswell NM.  She went home as Deborah Marie Estes on Dec 23, 2019.

Visitation will be from 6-7:00 p.m., Friday, December 27, 2019 at Schooler Funeral Home, 4100 S. Georgia St. Funeral service will be at 2:00 p.m., Saturday, December 28, 2019 at South Georgia Baptist Church, 5209 S. Georgia St. Burial will follow in Memory Gardens Cemetery. Arrangements are by Schooler Funeral Home.

Debbie was born in Roswell NM, to Omer and Marie Parker. She had two brothers; Omer Lee and Marcus, and a sister Melody. She grew up in Artesia NM. Later her family moved to Midway NM and she lived across the street from Midway Baptist Church, where her grandmother was a Sunday school teacher. It was there where she got to meet Jesus and give her life to him. She graduated Roswell High School in 1972 and 3 days later moved to Amarillo. She was planted in family and love.

She was uprooted from her family and planted a new one when she met Virgil Lee Estes. Lee and her father worked together at Johnston Pump. Omer brought Lee home one day to look at Debbie’s car that wasn’t running properly, Debbie just happened to be there. It was love at first sight and after a whirl wind courtship they were married 3 months later on May 26, 1973.

Lee was the love of her life. She loved him unconditionally for 46 years of marriage. She worked at Walmart for 20 years before retirement. Even after a full day of work she would make sure Lee was taken care of by cooking dinner and giving him everything he needed to make his day more comfortable. Her whole focus was to take care of him. Even in the last weeks of her life, she would talk to her daughters to make sure Lee would be taken care of after she was gone.

The first years of their marriage were spent doing normal married things. Raising kids, working and making a living. After her retirement, they got to do some things they enjoyed. There was breakfast with Great grandma on Saturday mornings, followed up with the hair salon.  Debbie loved to go to a sale, garage, estate, yard, whatever it might be called. She always wanted to go a lot more than she got to go. But that never stopped her excitement.

She loved to travel! She was excited at any chance to go to the mountains, the lake, or anywhere they could go.

Everyone knew that Deborah was her legal name, but everyone called her something different. To some she was Debbie, to some she was sis, to some she was mom, to some she was Aunt Debbie and to some she was grandma.  No matter what special name you had for her, they all represented our love.

Debbie was full of life and love.

Family was the most important thing to Debbie. Everyone she knew she considered family. She made it feel like you were her favorite, however she had no favorites, and could make a stranger feel just as loved as her brother or sister. No matter how she felt, Debbie had no greater joy than to sit and reminisce about times past and times to come.

No invitation was needed to come over to her house. You could just show up. Whether it was a holiday, playing cards on Friday night, or just a random Tuesday night dinner. It was guaranteed that there would be enough food, laughter, and love for anyone that was there.

She was never too busy to spend time with you. It was what she lived for. No matter what, she would put her needs on hold to make sure you were taken care of.

She was a caring woman that always sacrificed her time. She always felt that someone needed something, and she was the only one that could take care of them. She would call and check with her daughters several times a day just to make sure they were doing good and didn’t need anything. Sometimes hourly. She was always concerned her grandchildren were needing more food. She would show up with bags of cereal and snacks for them. Sometimes a couple of times a week. She always used the excuse that she bought too much at the grocery store and didn’t have any room for it. No, she was making sure they were taken care of.

Debbie lived a happy and joyful life. She never gave up on sharing her love.

Debbie was preceded in death by her parents, Omer and Marie Parker, and her brother Omer Lee Parker

She leaves behind her husband Virgil Lee Estes, 2 Daughters Kimberly George and husband Trey, Rebecca Owsley and husband Doug. A brother Marcus Parker, and his wife Teri, and her sister Melody Parker. Her Grandchildren, Brooklyn George, Kaylynn Hooks, Bryson Owsley, Trenton George, Kyle Owsley, Allison George, and one special Great Granddaughter, Scarlett Garcia. She also leaves behind many nieces and nephews that she loved very much.

Debbie’s life ended just like she lived it. Full of love and full of caring. In her final days, her fears weren’t of what death would mean to her body. She knew she had Jesus and her soul would be taken care of.

No, what upset her was she couldn’t be here with the one’s she loved anymore. That she couldn’t be the one to take care of them. She would now have to rely on someone else to continue and grow the love she started.

Don’t Worry Debbie, we will continue the love you started in all of us.

We miss you and love you!