Debbie Jo Carter

Debbie was born in Pueblo, Colorado to John Harold and Sharon Kay (Milligan) McCurry on June 15, 1970. Debbie often said that her first memory was of John tapping on the glass of the nursery in the hospital to get her to look up at him so he could take a picture of her.

John and Sharon separated sometime after Debbie was born and Debbie mainly lived with Sharon in Pueblo until she was seven years old. John then introduced Debbie and Sharon to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Sharon had no intentions of going back to the church after that one Sunday, but Debbie had volunteered to read a scripture in Primary the following week, and Sharon helped Debbie pick out a scripture. Shortly afterward, John and Sharon got remarried and the three of them moved to Fowler, Colorado onto an eighty-acre farm that used to be a stagecoach stop on the Santa Fe Trail along the Arkansas River.

Debbie started raising many animals on the farm including, but not limited to, goats, cows, chickens, ferrets, cats, dogs, rabbits, and peacocks. Debbie joined the 4-H club when she was eight years old and started crocheting. This is where she discovered her love to crochet despite Sharon constantly looking over her projects and tearing out stitches so Debbie could fix a mistake, but Debbie won a ribbon at the fair for that project so she was extremely thankful for her mother’s help with it.

Debbie attended school in Fowler and found her love of theater, speech and debate, and was the statistician for the Fowler Grizzly baseball team. One of Debbie’s favorite memories of being in theater was when she scared Sharon during one of her plays where she had to act out a scene where her character had to be hanged. Even though the set was designed to keep Debbie safe, Sharon was scared beyond her wits and Debbie found this hysterical.

Debbie's favorite memory of being the statistician for the baseball team was when the baseball team won state and threw her into the swimming pool at the hotel they were staying at.

She had tried to hide underneath the seats of the bus but all the boys on the team pulled her out and carried her on their shoulders before tossing her into the pool.

When Debbie was eleven years old, her family lost her brother Aaron. A little while later, when Debbie was two days short of being thirteen years old, Sharon gave birth to Erin Siobhan. Debbie loved her little sister very much, despite Sharon having to carry Erin to Debbie’s various extracurricular activities to ask Debbie if she was ever going to come home.

Debbie graduated from Fowler High School with the class of 1988 when she was seventeen years old. She then attended McPherson College in Kansas where she studied theater and art and met Darren Lee Carter, through Dr. Leland Lengal and various plays. Debbie’s and Darren’s relationship had an odd start, but they eventually got married on May 26, 1990. Debbie’s favorite part of the wedding was when Darren’s nephew, Darrell, got upset because he felt that Debbie was stealing his favorite uncle away from him.

Debbie and Darren went back to McPherson to finish school but Debbie’s health began to deteriorate because of unknown circumstances. She would have to pick and choose between going to classes and going to work and Darren would make a remark about never seeing someone getting so tired just from brushing their teeth. Eventually, Debbie chose to stop going to classes and focus her energy on work. After Darren graduated, Debbie and Darren moved to Fowler.

On August 11, 1997, Debbie gave birth to their oldest daughter, Ciarra Jessie. Debbie was extremely relieved to finally have a child and in her delirium after giving birth told Darren and her best friend Jill that Ciarra was not his because Ciarra was hers. She often called Ciarra her rainbow child and sunshine because Debbie thought that Ciarra’s smile lit up a whole room. Debbie was unfortunately hospitalized right after having Ciarra though because she became sick with pneumonia.

On April 2, 1999, Debbie gave birth to their youngest daughter, Shelby Veldron. During her labor, she yelled at Darren during a contraction because she was trying to focus on a spot on the ceiling, and the crinkling from the peanut M&Ms he was eating was getting on her nerves. After her contraction had passed she told him he could start eating his snack again, but he was too afraid to. Debbie was unfortunately hospitalized again after giving birth to Shelby but this time it was due to chemical meningitis.

In around 2000, Debbie, Darren, and the girls moved to Burlington, Colorado. It was roughly a year after they moved that Debbie was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis by Mary Shy and she was finally relieved to have answers as to what was going on with her.

While living in Burlington, Debbie was able to grow closer to Darren’s nieces and nephews and was able to develop many inside jokes either for or with them. Whether it was sewing udders onto a cow for Corey, throwing deodorant at Chad because the girls and boys like it when he smelled good or giving Darrell troll dolls because he let his hair grow out, she loved them all.

It was also while she was living in Burlington that Debbie was first called by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to participate in teaching and leading the Young Women’s program. She received this calling many more times throughout the years and was able to get to know so many strong girls. This was one of the many highlights of Debbie’s life and one of the things she was most proud of. She got to do so many activities with the girls, from making “thinking of you” blankets to surprising them about her music taste, she cherished the moments.

In 2005, Debbie and her family moved back to Fowler, Colorado and Debbie started not only raising her daughters, but she started helping Sharon raise Erin’s two daughters, Aysiah Katheline Bush, and Ceili Maie McCurry. She loved the two little girls as if they were her own and loved watching them grow up.

In 2014, Debbie moved to Ordway, Colorado with her two girls, and she and Darren got remarried in 2015. She mainly worked on her crocheting and attended as many of her daughter’s, nieces, and nephew’s activities as she could.

Debbie Jo Carter passed away on November 3, 2021, due to complications from Covid-19 and her Multiple Sclerosis. She was preceded in death by her great-grandparents, grandparents, and brother, Aaron McCurry. She was also preceded in death by her mother and father-in-law, Francis Lee and Elna Gay Carter, and her sister-in-law, Erva Gene Carter.

She is survived by her husband Darren, her children Ciarra (Alex Chaney) Carter and Shelby Carter, her parents John and Sharon McCurry, her sister Erin (Gary) Childs, and her many nieces and nephews.

Funeral services will be Monday, November 22, 2021 at 10:00 a.m. at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in La Junta with Bishop Kermit Snyder officiating. Interment will follow at the Fairview Cemetery in Burlington, Colorado. Visitation will be prior to the service at the church beginning at 9:00 a.m. until 10:00 a.m.

Online condolences may be made at www.peacockFH.com. Peacock-Larsen Funeral Home & Arkansas Valley Crematory is in charge of arrangements.