Deanne was a doer…if she decided something needed to be done, in all
of my experience with her, it was.  I (Meghan) am very grateful she
decided that Jackie and I needed to be friends.  Jackie and I weren’t
thrilled about it at first, but Deanne enlisted the help of my mom,
they practically forced us to hang out, and Jackie turned into my best
friend – I honestly don’t know how I would have survived high school
without her!  Jackie and I were close, so close that our senior year
of high school I think I spent almost as many nights at her house as I
did my own.  I have always been thankful for my friendship with
Jackie, but I am also very thankful for the time I got to spend with
Deanne because of it, especially during such an impressionable time of
my life.  It is clear to me that Deanne, along with her many other
talents, truly had a talent for dealing with teenagers; my mom tells
me that she would often ask Deanne for advice when I was in my
“challenging” phase and Deanne would tell her not to worry and offer
helpful words of wisdom.

As I’ve thought about it, here are a few stories about Deanne that
make me smile…

-I remember hiking with her at girl’s camp when a few of the girls
started complaining.  I remember thinking she was so cool when, along
with her encouraging (though I wouldn’t call it sympathetic) comments,
I also heard her say “no whining,” “you’re fine,” and “come on, just
do it.”  And they all did.

-She had a way of helping you see what’s actually important versus
some of the ridiculous things you think are important as a teenager,
while never invalidating your feelings.  (People go to school for
years to learn this skill and still aren’t great at it, but Deanne
was, maybe that’s why she worked so much with the young women.)  I
didn’t realize it at the time, but she really helped me feel
comfortable and confident with myself.  She actually encouraged John
(who was way young at the time) to tease me about being flat-chested!
I don’t know how many times I came over to the Krieger house and John
would run to a wall and announce that “Meghan’s here” and Deanne would
laugh with me.  Something I could have been self-conscious about, but
she showed me it was way more fun to laugh.

-On the way to girls camp one year Jackie and I got a hold of some
radios.  Deanne just drove and smiled while we quoted the movie Billy
Madison and repeated things like “10-4 good buddy,” “that’s a negative
ghost rider,” “over and out” the entire way.  She never made us feel
silly or dumb, even when I know we were obnoxious at times.

-She was extremely genuine and took an interest in me, like I know she
did with probably everyone she knew.  She knew of things that were
going on in my life and would ask how skiing/running/school was going
and she never failed to get out the dark-chocolate chocolate chips
when I came over because she knew I loved them.  And she would tell me
not to worry when Kurt made fun of things like my flower flip flops
and explained that she liked them and that’s what mattered:)

-Whenever Jackie and I were getting ready to head out for a night she
would cheerfully remind us, “no sex, drugs or alcohol!”  She never
lectured, never gave us any reason to get defensive, kept it light;
but we knew she meant it, we were well aware of her expectations, and
we knew she loved us - very effective!

Thank you Deanne!