Debra Giannasi Thomson

Debra Giannasi Thomson, age 66, departed this life after a brief and valiant battle with cancer. She lived a traditional childhood in favor of family and faith, and embraced an imaginative, carefree, and unencumbered lifestyle as a teen growing up during the 1960s and 70s in Mechanicsville, Virginia. Blessed from birth with a distinct emotional and intellectual energy, Debra naturally found her way in the social strata in an era of burgeoning independence and self-reliance. Cheering, twirling batons, and excelling in the classroom, she was a graduate of Lee Davis High School and continued her education at Virginia Tech and Mount Saint Mary’s.

Debra proudly raised her two daughters, Lauren and Heather, in Damascus, Maryland. She was an attentive and loving mother. Ever the matriarch of her family, she found tremendous joy in time spent with the girls and family pets. She later moved to Cary, North Carolina to again be close to her girls who had settled in the area after graduating from University of North Carolina Wilmington. She was an adaptive professional with a love for teaching, most notably in the primary school system and the financial services industry.

Debra was most content in soft ocean breezes, with her toes in the sand and a book in hand. She loved to travel and enjoyed adventures mostly outward bound to distant shores with her two girls, mother, family and friends. She continued to follow her faith and continuously enjoyed traditional bible study in the company of her many friends in North Carolina. She was fun loving, full of wit, kind and charismatic. She was caring and generous in her pursuit of happiness for herself and others.

Debbie is survived by her beloved daughters, Lauren Michelle Thomson and Heather Nicole Thomson; her mother, Dorothy Seelman Giannasi; her brothers, Andrew (Katherine), David (Jennifer), and Larry (Toni); and her many aunts, uncles, cousins, nephews and nieces. All of whom she loved and touched deeply.

Details on a Celebration of Life will be announced at a later time. In lieu of flowers, please honor Debra by planting a tree or growing a garden. Above all, she wanted us to remember to be kind and compassionate to one another, live in the moment, and forgive others, just as God forgives each of us in Christ; for this, Debra surely smiles down on us all in favor.