Deborah Susan Williams
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Deborah Lunney Williams was born January 27, 1954 in Wichita Falls. Her childhood years were spent in El Paso and her teenage years in Midland. She attended University of the Texas at El Paso and married Randall Hartley. After following him and his military career, they settled in San Francisco where she worked for Minnesota Life Insurance and learned Excel and Publisher, as well as being introduced to the administration of benefits. She and Randall had three children - Nick, Andy, and Arica. After moving to Sacramento and working for Sacramento Savings, she moved to Midland in 1998. She married Burr Williams November 3, 2000, and started work at Fasken Oil and Ranch earlier that year. She started as the assistant to the chief finance officer but became director of human resources and joined the management team. For Fasken she oversaw the Prairie Foundation and served as a member of the Funder's Roundtable. She also joined PBSHRM, the human resources association and the Midland Professional Businesswomen's Society. She also served on Midland Need to Read's board.
Deborah was a woman of many interests. Her passion was plants --- growing them, eating them, and making dyes, medicines, soaps, and perfumes out of them. She and Burr collected over 1200 xeric species of plants for their Gone Native Garden. As they drove the highways, she was always spotting a species she had not seen, and she kept plant lists for most of the driving trips. They took many daytrips to search for wildflowers and to explore the region.
Deborah loved to travel, going to Europe with her father and daughter, flying over the country for work, traveling to Mexico with her parents as a child, and traveling with Burr to Montreal, Nova Scotia, and the big cities of the northeast as well as the Amish country and Valley Forge. Her favorite trip was to Cuba in 2015. After buying a casita in Santa Fe, she made as many trips as she could there, to prepare for retirement. She retired September 1, 2020 and never got to live there.
Deborah was a master at domestic skills, including that of cutting and laying tile for ceiling, walls, and floors of kitchens and bathrooms. She was a superb cook and collected cookbooks from all around the world. Her favorite television was travel and food shows. She purposefully searched out the most interesting restaurants as she traveled.
Other passions included music. Moving to Midland, she sung for three days straight and did not repeat a song. She and son Nick performed thousands of evenings over the years. She attended many concerts over the years, and had a varied record collection. She would learn songs as we drove, putting a song on repeat until she remembered the melody and words.
She always had pets, be it birds, cats, or dogs. She became enamored with roadrunners after one adopted her and followed her around, and she collected representations of them and ravens, her other favorite wild bird. She collected crockery, silverware, china, and kitchen equipment as well, becoming the ultimate eBay bidder. She collected artifacts, books, recipes, music, and fabrics from Mexico, and spoke conversational Spanish. She was fascinated by folklore from many countries.
She will be missed. Her "my little friends" group and her family especially grieve. A shining star has been dimmed.
Deborah is survived by her husband: Burr Harold Williams; children: Nicholas James Hartley, Andrew Egan Hartley, and Arica Jane Garcia; siblings: James Edward Lunney and Patrick Kirby Lunney; grandchildren: Christopher Joseph Calvert, Terrance Hartley Crump, Ignacio Garcia Jr., Juan Carlos Garcia, Jaime Eduardo Garcia, Gino Estefan Portillo, Michael Zacariah Portillo, and Sebastian Cole Hartley; and great grandchildren: Terra Hartlynn Crump and Texana Hartlynn Crump.
Funeral services will be held Wednesday, January 27, 2021 at 10 AM at First Christian Church followed by burial at Resthaven Memorial Park. Masks are required for services and social distancing is strongly encouraged. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to Safe Place and Buckner homes.