Debra Ann Hill was born July 18, 1949, in Dallas Texas. She was one of two children born into the union of the late Bert Bee Gamble Sr. of Campbell, Texas and the late Trubbie Lee Nelson of Sulphur Springs, Texas. Her younger brother was the late, Bert “Bubba” Gamble Jr. Although Debra and young Bert were raised primarily in the city, they’d spend their summers in the country with their grandmothers who she always spoke so affectionately of.
Debra was educated in the Dallas Independent School District, and it was at Lincoln High School where she’d meet her love Dwight Cecil Hill. Dwight and Debra would go on to marry, with Debra birthing 7 children to this union, 4 boys and 3 girls.
Debra was a gifted, self-taught seamstress designing and sewing a mass majority of her own wardrobe. Not only did she sew for herself, but she’d also often do work for others in most cases at no charge simply because of her love for the craft. In addition to sewing, she enjoyed arts, crafts, refurbishing old things turning them into something new and interior decorating. She truly had a brilliant and crafty mind, always seeing potential where others wouldn’t. Debra also had a passion for children, helping raise more than half of her grandchild also working for organizations such as Wilmer Hutchins School System, Campfire Boys and Girls Club and running her own in-home daycare for many years. Children enrolled in Debra’s daycare always reported to kindergarten more advanced than the other children because she taught them a full curriculum from her home. Debra’s goal was to raise strong, smart, self-sufficient individuals who were God fearing just like her. Above all was her passion for Christ. She was a bit of an evangelist but never proclaimed to be. She taught many a souls, both you and old about Jesus Christ, letting them know that He was their Lord and Savior granted they’d just except him as such, leading many to salvation and Christianity.
Debra departed her earthly body and went to join the Lord on July 17, 2021, one day before her birthday. The Lord saw fit for her to celebrate with him. She was preceded in death by her husband, Dwight Hill; her grandparents, Garfield & Dee Gamble and Dewitt & Sylvester Nelson; her parents, and younger brother, Bert Sr., Trubbie, and Bert Jr.; four of her children, Keenan, Kevin, Korish, and Pandra; and her grandson, Shaul.
She leaves to cherish her memories: three children, Theron Hill, Shuandra Hill, and Serena Rhodes; son-in-law, Derrick Rhodes; fourteen grandchildren, thirteen great grandchildren, childhood friend, Glenda Carter, and a host of God children, nieces, nephews, cousin and friends.
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