Debra Lynn Fowler

Debra Lynn Fowler, 58, passed away Thursday, September 1, 2016 at Wake Forest Baptist Hospital in Winston-Salem. The funeral service will be held Saturday at 2 PM at Sunset Funeral Home in Danville. The family will receive friends prior to the service from 1 PM until the funeral hour. Burial will follow the service in Sunset Memorial Cemetery. To know Debbie was to know love. Her heart belonged to Jesus Christ and her hope was secure; that shaped her perspective, inspired her to love and serve others, and gave her strength to face the trouble of this life. No one knew that love better than her family and friends. They saw it in the time and support she gave her children, in the love she poured out to her grandchildren, in the ways she ministered to others at Unity Free Will Baptist Church, in the care she showed her co-workers at Ross Orthodontics, and in the people and pets she united through Pitt Friends. After she gave so much of herself to others, Debbie enjoyed just being with her husband, sitting on their back porch with their dogs - Lexi, Gracie, Rusty and Mac - watching the flowers that grew in the garden they tended so meticulously. No matter what she was doing, her thoughts were never far from those she loved, especially the two who called her "Mimi." Before moving to Greenville in 1998, Debbie had been born and raised in Danville, IL. She graduated from Danville High School in 1976, worked for Dr. Stephen Wilson, DDS, and was a faithful member of Second Church of Christ. Debbie was preceded in death by her parents, Glen and Jan McBride. She is survived by her husband of 36 years, James Allen "Jim" Fowler; son, Ryan Fowler of Nashville, TN; daughter, Kara Yates and husband, Matt, of Winston-Salem; grandchildren, Hayden and Madelyn Yates; brothers, Glen McBride, Jr. and wife, Karen, of Columbus, OH, and Brad McBride and wife, Jackie, of Crawfordsville, IN; and aunt, Barbie Davis and husband, Mike, of Oakwood, IL. Flowers are welcome or memorials may be made to Friends of the Pitt County Animal Shelter at www.pittfriends.com, 2850 Firetower Rd., Greenville, NC 27858; or Triple Negative Breast Cancer Foundation at www.tnbcfoundation.org, P.O. Box 204, Norwood, NJ 07648 Online condolences at www.wilkersonfuneralhome.com and www.sunsetfuneralhome.com.