Born July 8, 1951, in Salem, Debbie was one of four children born to Walter “Bud” and Eva Lou Stotler. The other children are sister Sharon Stotler of Salem, Ore., Michael Stotler of Scio, Ore., and Lori Soza of Houston, Texas; all survive her.
Debbie graduated from South Salem High School in 1969. A few years later, Debbie married James “Jim” Willits of Salem. Debbie had two children with Jim, daughter Teresa Strubel of Salem, and son Edward “Eddie” Willits of Salem; both survive her. Debbie was also the very proud grandmother of six grandchildren that survive her: Jackson, James and Trevor Strubel, Jasmine Allenwood, and Andrew and Nakaia Willits, all of Salem.
In August 1983, Debbie married the love of her life, Steven Franke, in Salem. In 1990, the two moved to Pendleton, where they worked and lived until June 2003 when they moved to New Plymouth, Idaho, where they lived until moving to Hermiston in October of 2010.
Besides, loving to be with her grandchildren and family, she loved being in the outdoors, fishing, hunting, gardening, or just driving around in the mountains as long as she was with Steve. Debbie dearly loved spending time with all her friends as well.
In January of 2010, Debbie was diagnosed with stage 4 breast cancer, beginning a long and brave fight to beat it. Debbie loved her oncologist Iyad Hamarneh of Kennewick, Wash. She also loved and appreciated all her friends and nurses at Trios Hospital in Oncology and Columbia Basin Hemotology and Oncology. Without all of you, these last few years may very well have not been possible. Thank you so much!
Although we are deeply saddened by our loss of Debbie, we are comforted in knowing she no longer has to suffer from the cancer and treatments. She constantly approached her fight with a positive attitude, never shopping for sympathy. She believed she could beat cancer until she couldn’t. The one wish she had was to “just to have things be normal.” She always did her very best to keep life normal in spite of the cancer.
There will be two celebration of life services for Debbie. The first will be 1 p.m. on Saturday, April 25 at Santiam Golf Course in Stayton, Ore. The second will be 1 p.m. on Saturday, May 16 at the Cleveland residence (the Old Adams School) in Adams, Ore. Preferred dress is casual. Debbie liked things relaxed and casual so please dress accordingly if possible.
