Deborah Elise Quigley Smith was born July 7, 1963, in Kodiak, Alaska, to Glenn and Patsy Quigley. She passed from this life on May 1, 2025, from cancer.
Debbie was a lifelong follower of Jesus Christ and loved to read and study the Bible. She was always looking forward to her life after this one because of the hope she had in Jesus.
She loved her family, her family farm and gardening at Quigley Castle. For 35 years, she worked to keep her grandmother’s legacy alive at Quigley’s Castle, maintaining her grandmother’s perennial garden, the house and showing guests around, telling them the story of her grandmother, Elise Quigley.
Debbie loved to write. Some of her poetry has been published in periodical reviews. She has written three books, which remain unpublished. For seven years, Debbie has written and directed the Voices Cemetery Walk, a fundraiser for the Eureka Springs Historical Museum, of which she was a member of the board. Debbie loved to make quilts, doilies and other knitting projects.
She was a member of the Eureka Springs School Board for nine years and served her community by delivering Meals on Wheels, especially during the COVID pandemic. Debbie loved spending time with friends who were so precious to her. She served as a leader at Celebrate Recovery in Rogers, Arkansas and made so many precious friends there.
Throughout, her family was her life. There was nothing she would not do for her family, often sacrificing to see that her family was cared for.
Debbie is preceded in death by her father Glenn Webster Quigley of Eureka Springs. By her grandparents, Curtis and Opal Hull of Berryville, and Albert (Bud) & Elise Quigley of Eureka Springs.
She is survived by her husband of 42 years, Kenneth Eric Smith of Eureka Springs, daughter, Callie Michael Smith Sanchez and husband Rudy of Bentonville, Ark., daughter Kendra Gabriel Priscilla Smith of Eureka Springs, and by her pride and joy, her beloved grandsons, Aiden Paul Sanchez and Grayson Michael Sanchez of Bentonville.
She is also survived by her mother, Pasty Lee Hull Quigley of Eureka Springs and one sister, Caroline Elizabeth Quigley Widhalm and husband, Marty, of Lincoln Neb., several cousins and many, many dear friends.
Memorial service will be held at 11 a.m., Thursday, May 15, 2025, at Nelson’s Chapel of the Springs, in Eureka Springs. Memorial donations may be made to St. Jude’s Research, 501 St. Jude Place, Memphis, TN 38105. Arrangements are under the direction of Nelson Funeral Service Inc. Online condolences may be sent to nelsonfuneral.com