Deborah Paulette Meade

She was born on November 1, 1947 in Hilham, Tenn., where she lived the first few years of her life before moving to Detroit, Mich., with her parents, Martela and Willie Coffman. She attended schools in Garden City, Mich., where she graduated in 1966.

Following graduation from high school, she was offered a full ride scholarship in business to Wayne State University near Detroit, but chose to enter the workforce instead. She worked for a few years at the local school district then went to work for the UniStrut corporation, quickly moving up to executive assistant to the vice president.

At that time in her life, she was very involved in the Free Will Baptist Church, where she was a member of a trio that sang both in the local church as well as regional churches. She was an excellent singer, who at one time was offered a recording contract. It was her singing that attracted her future husband, Rod Meade, who was visiting Michigan in 1967 and heard her sing one day in church and asked to meet her. They fell in love and were married in December of 1970. They moved out west from Detroit, settling in Raymond, Wash., where she worked both at Seafirst and also in the office of the Weyerhaeuser saw mill. They stayed in Raymond until Rod was relocated to Centralia for work and Debbie quickly got a job at Weyerhaeuser’s Mima nursery.

The following year they welcomed their first child, Shad into the world, followed a few years later by their second and last child, Angela. Debbie took time off from work to stay at home and raise the kids. In 1988, Debbie returned to work at the Mima nursery where she remained employed until retiring a few days before her death.

She was an avid music box and lighthouse collector and loved to watch soap operas. She loved going down to the beach to watch it storm and had a fascination with the moon and sunsets.

She was preceded in death by her father, Willie Coffman in 2001 and her stillborn brother, Gary Mitchell Coffman in 1946. She is survived by her husband, Rod Meade of Centralia, her mother, Martela Coffman of Centralia, her son, Shad Meade of Joplin, MO., her daughter, Angela Meade of New York, N.Y., her two brothers, Roderick Coffman of Rochester, Wash., and Ralph Coffman of Livonia, Mich., and her three grandchildren, Quartney, Racheal and Grace Meade.

A funeral service, officiated by Rev. Luther Pendleton will be held Tuesday, July 10, 2012 at 1 p.m. at Centralia Community Church of God, 3320 Borst Ave., Centralia. Interment will follow at Claquato Cemetery, 142 Stearns Road, Chehalis. Visitation will be Monday, July 9 between 1-6 p.m. at Sticklin Funeral Chapel, 1437 South Gold Street, Centralia. Flowers may be sent to the funeral chapel or donations may be made to the Susan G. Komen Foundation for Breast Cancer Research in Debbie's name.

Gone from our eyes but forever in our hearts.