Debbie Barry

I live with my husband in southeastern Michigan with our two cats, Mister and Goblin. We enjoy exploring history through French and Indian War re-enactment and through medieval re-enactment in the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I grew up in southwestern Vermont, where I heard and collected many family stories that I enjoy retelling as historical fiction for young audiences, and as family and local history for genealogists, as well as memory stories of my own life.

I graduated summa cum laude with a B.A. in dual majors of social sciences with an education concentration and of English in 2013. I am on hiatus from pursuing my master’s degree in linguistics, specializing in teaching English as a second language (TESOL), at Oakland University, in Rochester, Michigan, as a result of going blind and battling long-term illness.

I went blind suddenly, without obvious cause, on December 15, 2014, at the age of 45. My family, friends, and doctors expected me to give in to the darkness and become bitter and angry. Instead, I chose to adopt a positive attitude, even when I felt anything but positive, and to find as much light as possible in my life. I wrote an autobiographical account of my first full year of living in the twilight semi-vision of blindness to share my experience with others; it was also therapy to help me face the darkness.

Before going blind, I was an avid, even voracious, reader. I enjoyed drawing in many traditional media and painting in acrylic, gouache, and watercolor. I enjoyed sewing, crocheting, needlepoint, embroidery, beadwork, spinning, and weaving. Since going blind, I have turned to audio books from Audible.com, BARD Talking Books Library, and on CDs. I crochet blankets and crochets scarves for charity. I make paper beads to make rosaries for the missions.

I am an active member of the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) and the Society for Creative Anachronism (SCA). I am a past member of the LEO Club, the Lions Club, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP), the Girl Scouts, the Explorer Scouts, and the Order of the Eastern Star (OES), as well as various academic and social groups in high school, college, and graduate school. I am a member of the National Honor Society, Phi Theta Kappa, and the Golden Key Honor Sciety. I like to be active.