Six Mile Post

Issue date: 2/17/09 Section: Opinion

Debra Nave, 2/13/70- 2/2/09

Thursday, Feb. 5, 2009, I sat reading The Rome News Tribune and having my morning coffee. An article on the left- hand side of the paper caught my eye. A woman, Debra Nave, had been shot several times by her husband, who had then shot himself.

The name immediately caught my eye. Debra Nave. I got up to check my grade book. Yes. Debra's name was on my roll sheet and she had not been in class on Tuesday.

I had tears in my eyes when I called my sister Lucinda and her husband, Mark, in Chapel Hill, N. C. We talked and agreed that a moment of silence would be appropriate.

I went to class and waited for the students to arrive. When I got to her name on the roll sheet, I paused, announced that Debra was dead, and asked if we could all have a moment of silence. A student immediately blurted out-"But she was so alive!" My students talked for about 15 minutes, incredulous that someone so vibrant and involved in our class could be dead.

We were finally hushed for that moment of silence. Debra's own words, the words she had written in her narrative essay went through my head. She remains alive in the words she had written.

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