Debra B. Stever

Debra Nusman Stever was born December 20, 1956 to Hyman and Ida Nusman. She was raised in Berlin and graduated from Berlin High School in 1974. Three years later, she graduated from Colby Sawyer College with a degree in speech and theatre. She returned to Berlin where she worked for both The Berlin Reporter and WMOU as a reporter and announcer. After a few years, she began the transition to her lifelong love -- teaching. She started by working briefly as a vocational guidance counselor at Berlin High School. She left that job to start the Assisting Women in Transition Program at NHVTC Berlin -- a program designed to help women make the transition into the work force as more families became dependent on two incomes. She was appointed by Governor John Sununu to serve a term on the State Commission on the Status of Women. As she became more and more aware of the biases and inequities toward women, she decided to go to law school and get her JD. She graduated from Franklin Pierce Law Center in 1990 and returned to Berlin to pursue her passions -- teaching and the law. She spent many years working as a college counselor and teaching paralegal and criminal justice courses. Her greatest joy as an educator was teaching online courses for Norwich University in their Masters in Criminal Justice Program. Above all else, Debbie valued being a wife, mother, and friend. She married H. Guyford Stever, Jr. in 1978. They settled in Randolph and had one daughter -- Rosalind Risley Stever. Debbie took profound pleasure spending time with her family and particularly looked forward to their yearly excursions to Monhegan Island off the coast of Maine and trips to Boston to see the Red Sox. Debbie always showed a kindness and a generosity to those she met, worked with and taught. She will always be remembered for her warmth and smile, her strength, her courage, and setting an example by leading a just life. Debbie is survived by her husband H. Guyford Stever, Jr. and their daughter Rosalind Risley Stever of Cambridge, MA; her brother Richard Nusman and wife Lor of Bradenton, FL: her sister Sharon and husband Skip of Clearwater, FL; Sarah Stever of Birmingham, MI; Margo Weed and her husband Lincoln of Oakton, VA; Roy Stever and wife Debbie of Chagrin Falls, OH; several nieces, nephews, and cousins. She was pre-deceased by her parents. A celebration of her life will be held at The Gorham Congregational Church at 2:00 pm on Sunday, August 10th with a reception to follow at the church. In lieu of flowers, her family requests that donations be made in her name to the Dartmouth Hitchcock Medical Center Palliative Care Services, One Medical Center Drive, Lebanon, NH 03756.