Deborah Kay (Emerick) Mayo 1957 - 2020

Deborah Kay (Emerick) Mayo, age 63, of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, passed away at her home on Monday, July 27, 2020. She was born April 3, 1957, in Mesa, Arizona. She is the second of six siblings, now scattered across the country. Survivors include her daughter, Effie (Jeff) Hill of Fort Dodge, Iowa; sons, Shawn (Nicolle) Mayo of Wellsboro, Pennsylvania, and Christopher (Allie Pacheco) Mayo of Tigard, Oregon; brother, Jim (Erny) Emerick of Golden Valley, Arizona; sisters, Carole (Johnnie) Woolfolk of Auxvasse, Missouri, Cathy (William) Sterner of Cleveland, Ohio, Linda (Alan) Svejkovsky of Jacksonville, Florida, and Irene (Steve) Locke of Springfield, Missouri. She also has five grandchildren.  

Debbie was a hard-working and whole-hearted woman who wouldn’t hesitate to give to someone she loved. She constantly blessed the people around her with her warmth and thoughtful actions. She loved to keep her hands busy by making gifts, quilts, and cinnamon rolls to give away. She loved to surprise and attended the small details about a person to give them the perfect gift.  

She was altruistic, authentic, and a bit abstract. She had the ability to look at something and see in it a purpose hidden from everyone else. She was creative, compassionate, and caring.  

Debbie loved to be helpful and spent most of her life caring for others. In her adolescence, she cared and tended to her siblings as they moved tempestuously from town to town through the Midwest. She did not have an easy upbringing, but her family bond held closely through thick and thin. It was in this time that she found faith in Jesus and held that faith until her final breath.  

In adulthood, she became a wife and mother. Most of her adult life was spent in Oregon raising her two sons and becoming re-acquainted with her biological daughter, adopted at birth. She put her all into making ends meet and praying her children would have a better upbringing than her own. She supported, loved and sacrificed for those she held dear.  

In later life, she moved back to the Midwest to care for her ailing parents, Richard and Esther Emerick, who preceded her in death. After many years away from her family, she was delighted to be able to re-unite with her siblings. She dreamed of a cross country road trip and finished it on the East Coast in Pennsylvania, where she lived for nearly a year, and died on the morning of July 27, 2020, surrounded by her three children.  

Debbie’s legacy lives on in her children who carry with them her tender heart, her creative mind and her capable hands. She will be deeply missed by all who knew her.  

A memorial service will be held at the convenience of the family. Buckheit Funeral Chapel and Crematory, Inc. 637 S. Main St. Mansfield, PA is assisting the family. www.buckheitfcandcrematory.com