Debby Dearborn Supports Conn Now and in the Future with Lifetime and Legacy Gifts

Debby Dearborn ’67 has followed a diverse and fascinating career path that was shaped by her experience at Connecticut College and a commitment to the values that have guided her throughout her life. After being accepted to the College through the waitlist, she initially struggled academically but ultimately gained invaluable skills that she has carried with her.

Looking back on her time at Conn, Debby says, “The College taught me how to think. They taught me how to read. They taught me how to write. I really never forgot that. And it has stayed with me for all these years in addition to the friends that I still have.” Debby pursued a degree in art history, combining her love of the two areas. She shares, “I still, to this day, gravitate towards an appreciation of art, creativity, human needs, and human expression.”

Just after graduation, Debby married and started a family. She wrote for the Audubon Society of Rhode Island and then moved to Aiken, South Carolina, working for the newspaper—first as a reporter and then as the editor of the “Women’s Pages,” an opportunity to find and develop her own stories. But it was with the family’s move to Minnesota that a new career blossomed and a passion for plants was ignited. Debby became a landscape designer, creating gardens for residences and commercial properties.

Eight years ago, she moved to New Hampshire where her father grew up and where she spent vacations in her youth. She continues to work for smaller clients but is mostly enjoying New Hampshire, spending her time gardening, hiking, and as she says, “enjoying the wild parts of our natural world that are very important to me.”

Debby continues to pursue an active interest in history as a trustee of Historic Deerfield, one of the best-preserved villages in North America that vividly recreates early New England life. “It is a highly regarded model of historic preservation in America that tells the story of where we started, what our ideals were, and what we stood for.” As she says, “It keeps me grounded when I'm being rattled by the news of the day.”

She also takes advantage of opportunities at the College, recently traveling from New Hampshire to New London to participate in a class on winter tree identification offered by the Arboretum. She says, “As a student, I thought Connecticut was a beautiful campus but not like I feel about it now. These majestic trees and shrubs give form to the beautiful stone that defines Connecticut to me. I want to come back now and see these trees in leaf and flower form. So, one step leads to another.”

Debby has also made a significant philanthropic contribution to Conn in the form of a charitable remainder trust that was funded with a gift of real estate. In 2022 Debby made Conn the irrevocable beneficiary of the trust and spun off part of the trust to establish an endowed scholarship fund. She will continue to enjoy receiving payments from the trust for life. When the trust terminates, the remainder comes to the College and will be added to her scholarship fund.

She shares, “My true confession is that I have no financial analytical skills at all, but I'm in the good hands of a financial investment bank that has a lot of integrity. I had already funded a gift that would benefit students, but that would come after I died. When Karen and Rob Hale created the Hale Scholarship Challenge as part of the Defy Boundaries campaign, I wondered if I could split off a portion and give it now. What could be more fun? When my bank said this was possible, it was such a wonderful surprise—to have my money do good while I’m still alive. I’ve been so happy with the scholarship and the opportunity that it has provided for these young people.”

As Debby considers her legacy at Conn and what the College means to her, she says, “An all-women’s College felt like a place where I could hear my own voice. As a lot of changes came along in my life, that has continued to stay with me. I consider myself an ordinary person. I think it’s good for people to realize that they don't have to be the head of a Fortune 500 company in order to think about ways to help.”