[et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.27.6″ _module_preset=”default” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
[\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section][et_pb_section fb_built=”1″ _builder_version=”4.16″ global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_row _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”][et_pb_column type=”4_4″ _builder_version=”4.16″ custom_padding=”|||” global_colors_info=”{}” custom_padding__hover=”|||”][et_pb_text _builder_version=”4.16″ background_size=”initial” background_position=”top_left” background_repeat=”repeat” global_colors_info=”{}”]<\/p>\n
Deborah Jean Andrews Nielsen, \u201cDebbie\u201d to people who knew her, died at home in her sleep on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. She was 71. Debbie is survived by her husband of 46 years, Rick Nielsen, daughter Christin Winston (wife of Troy), son Matt, sister Denissa and brother-in-law David Schulman.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Debbie was born in Smithfield, North Carolina to Clyde and Barbara (Bobbie) Andrews on Feb. 20, 1954. Clyde was a home builder and Debbie\u2019s family moved into the houses he built while he built new ones. The Andrews moved to Cullowhee, North Carolina when Debbie was 12. She attended high school there, and that is when she and Rick met. She was 16, he was an immature 13 year old.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
She went off to college at Western Carolina University, Rick went to the Naval Academy, and their paths crossed again just before Rick graduated with a commission as an Ensign. After just three months of dating, the couple became engaged, and married six months later.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Debbie was a Navy wife, a teacher, a home-maker, artist, athlete, musician, horticulturist, dog trainer, friend and companion.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
Debbie taught Art and American History at a small private school. She then home–schooled her children through elementary and high school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Debbie loved to paint and draw. She never considered herself talented in that, but she most certainly was, and we have the results to prove it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Debbie was a cyclist, and rode her bicycle many miles, including a number of 100-mile rides. She rode her bike across the state of Nevada three times, once with a broken hand. She started learning to play the piano during the pandemic. There is a Chopin piece of music on the piano music stand that she left behind.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She hybridized daylilies, and there are over 100 different varieties of them across our property that she developed. Many other types of flowers and shrubs and interesting plants adorn the property, and garden clubs have toured and enjoyed her horticulture.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n She trained five border collies in dog sports, and her skill in that led to a Master Agility Champion, a world champion Frisbee dog and two other dogs in the top five in world competition.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Debbie had many friends. She was such a natural, unassuming person that people were just drawn to. And she was a companion who will be dearly, dearly missed.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Debbie died as a result of multiple severe strokes, caused by blood clots likely from a rapidly spreading cancer that was not recognized until too late. She spent 40 days in hospital before her release to Hospice. She was home for less than a day before her promotion to Glory. She died in the home that she loved, overlooking the fields and mountains that she loved with the people and dogs that she loved. That\u2019s the way to go, isn\u2019t it?<\/p>\n<\/div>\n A memorial service for Debbie will be at 1 p.m. March 7 at Dahlonega Methodist Church in Dahlonega, Georgia. Casual attire please. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Community Helping Place, 1127 Hwy 52E, Dahlonega, GA 30533.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n [\/et_pb_text][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Debbie J. Nielsen Deborah Jean Andrews Nielsen, \u201cDebbie\u201d to people who knew her, died at home in her sleep on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. She was 71. Debbie is survived by her husband of 46 years, Rick Nielsen, daughter Christin Winston (wife of Troy), son Matt, sister Denissa and brother-in-law David Schulman. Debbie was born […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3396,"featured_media":10223,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":" Deborah Jean Andrews Nielsen, \u201cDebbie\u201d to people who knew her, died at home in her sleep on Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. She was 71. Debbie is survived by her husband of 46 years, Rick Nielsen, daughter Christin Winston (wife of Troy), son Matt, sister Denissa and brother-in-law David Schulman.<\/p><\/div> Debbie was born in Smithfield, North Carolina to Clyde and Barbara (Bobbie) Andrews on Feb. 20, 1954. Clyde was a home builder and Debbie\u2019s family moved into the houses he built while he built new ones. The Andrews moved to Cullowhee, North Carolina when Debbie was 12. She attended high school there, and that is when she and Rick met. She was 16, he was an immature 13 year old.<\/p><\/div> She went off to college at Western Carolina University, Rick went to the Naval Academy, and their paths crossed again just before Rick graduated with a commission as an Ensign. After just three months of dating, the couple became engaged, and married six months later.<\/p><\/div> Debbie was a Navy wife, a teacher, a home-maker, artist, athlete, musician, horticulturist, dog trainer, friend and companion.<\/p><\/div> Debbie taught Art and American History at a small private school. She then home--schooled her children through elementary and high school.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div> Debbie loved to paint and draw. She never considered herself talented in that, but she most certainly was, and we have the results to prove it.\u00a0<\/span><\/p><\/div> Debbie was a cyclist, and rode her bicycle many miles, including a number of 100-mile rides. She rode her bike across the state of Nevada three times, once with a broken hand. She started learning to play the piano during the pandemic. There is a Chopin piece of music on the piano music stand that she left behind.<\/p><\/div> She hybridized daylilies, and there are over 100 different varieties of them across our property that she developed. Many other types of flowers and shrubs and interesting plants adorn the property, and garden clubs have toured and enjoyed her horticulture.<\/p><\/div> She trained five border collies in dog sports, and her skill in that led to a Master Agility Champion, a world champion Frisbee dog and two other dogs in the top five in world competition.<\/p><\/div> Debbie had many friends. She was such a natural, unassuming person that people were just drawn to. And she was a companion who will be dearly, dearly missed.<\/p><\/div> Debbie died as a result of multiple severe strokes, caused by blood clots likely from a rapidly spreading cancer that was not recognized until too late. She spent 40 days in hospital before her release to Hospice. She was home for less than a day before her promotion to Glory. She died in the home that she loved, overlooking the fields and mountains that she loved with the people and dogs that she loved. That\u2019s the way to go, isn\u2019t it?<\/p><\/div> A memorial service for Debbie will be at 1 p.m. March 7 at Dahlonega Methodist Church in Dahlonega, Georgia. Casual attire please. In lieu of flowers, please make donations to the Community Helping Place, 1127 Hwy 52E, Dahlonega, GA 30533.<\/p><\/div>","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[142,86],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-12016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-142","category-obituaries"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3396"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12016"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12023,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12016\/revisions\/12023"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10223"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/affiliate.wcu.edu\/classnotes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}