Meet Deborah

Since 1999, I’ve split my work years between the Fetzer Institute and GilChrist. For almost a decade now I’ve been fulfilling an inspiring, growing edge in primarily assisting our past-president and trustee, Rob Lehman, with research and special projects related to the Institute’s legacy and learning. I also provide similar assistance for our board of trustees with my colleagues who support the board functions most directly. It’s a privilege to be part of something so beautiful and to each day feel the joy and toil inherent in transformation.  

I watched from my living room window as WindHill, GilChrist’s meeting house, grew out of the hilltop across the street from where I lived, not knowing that in a few years I’d have the opportunity to join John Howie there in the early days, making us a staff of two. I would later continue my journey with Fetzer by following a passion for cooking that I’d explored somewhat informally at the retreat center (meal kits with rose petal jam and simple suppers for groups) to the Institute’s kitchen where the real cooks lived. I learned a lot about cooking there, and perhaps just as much about literature, history, philosophy, hospitality, and teamwork.

Once a dancer, I’m now seeking what I loved so much there in poetry, running, meditation, and community. I’m ridiculously introverted and a lover of small, quiet, personal, slow, local things.