Deborah Elizabeth Lambert

DEBORAH ELIZABETH (FOGG) LAMBERT               January 8, 1928 – December 31, 2020

Deborah Elizabeth (Fogg) Lambert sailed off into the sunset on December 31, 2020 in New London, NH after 92 years of love, joy, and several varied and thrilling careers.

“Debby” was born on January 8, 1928 in West Hartford, Connecticut to Lennox and Elsa Fogg. After graduating from Oxford (Kingswood) School (West Hartford, Connecticut), Debby attended Stephens College (Columbia, Missouri) and finished her education by earning a BA in Elementary Education from Cortland State University (Cortland, New York).

In 1948, Debby married Frank Lambert, Jr.—a handsome and charming World War II veteran and Trinity College Graduate, (Hartford, Connecticut). They went on to enjoy 64 years together, partnering through more than a few exciting and challenging careers.

The first adventure gave “city-girl” Debby a dose of culture shock as she accompanied her new husband to a small dairy farm in Ithaca, New York called appropriately, “Back Acres.” While running the little farm, Frank attended Cornell, and Debby learned to haul water, cook on a wood stove, milk a cow named “Suzy Fill-Pail Glory,” and deal with her first bout of morning sickness.

Shortly after the birth of their first daughter, Deborah Perrin Lambert, the venturesome couple sold, “Backacres” and bought a new farm, which Frank named, “Deborah Farms.”  They milked a newly acquired herd of dairy cows and proceeded to bring five more Lambert daughters into the world in quick succession: Suzannah Price, Elizabeth Young, Maria Leanora, Alison Fogg, and Emily Vaughan.

Besides raising babies and milking cows, another dream project soon appeared for Frank and Debby. They auctioned off their Holsteins, and Frank bought a few harness horses to race at small racetracks throughout the East Coast. Undaunted as always, Debby learned to harness and jog the horses—falling in love with each one. Travelling with her husband, six daughters, several trotters and pacers, assorted puppies, cats, and occasional goats, the harness racing adventure was exciting for everyone—until Debby and Frank realized their daughters were no longer tomboys.

They quickly sold the horses, went back to college, earned their education degrees, and began to teach school. Frank taught high school English, while Debby taught third grade. Debby loved her students and charmed them with her grace and humor, her storytelling and her warmth—all while sailing with Frank and her daughters at every opportunity aboard the “Lady Guru”—the family bugeye—on the Chesapeake Bay.

But that wasn’t the end of Debby’s adventures. Her husband, Frank, left school teaching and bought a tugboat and barge in order to haul corn and grain from the Eastern Shore of the Chesapeake to Norfolk, Virginia. Soon, Debby joined him with her usual cheerful and athletic participation. These attributes served her well as she pulled in the hawser, winched the cables, and steered across the Bay.

Frank and Debby helped their daughters earn their college tuitions by employing them on the tug—as well as some of their school chums, who worked as deckhands with the family crew. Then, Debby took her adventurous commitment a step further by studying for her own Tugboat Captain’s license and becoming the first licensed female Tugboat Captain in the United States!

After a successful run at the tug boating business, Debby and Frank sold the tug and barges and spent the next fifteen years sailing around the Caribbean, the Atlantic, and the Mediterranean Oceans—diving, fishing, singing, and dodging hurricanes.

Finally, they threw out their last anchor and moved to New London, NH. Debby’s natural joie de vivre made her an ideal participant at COA, the local Council on Aging organization, where she played bridge with wicked skill, exercised, and enjoyed special presentations. The pleasure of playing bridge was shared by many of her friends who held weekly bridge parties at each other’s homes.

Debby was a member St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church in New London, where she attended services and volunteered at the Thrift Shop. Additionally, she was an avid life-long learner and enjoyed participating in many classes through Adventures in Learning at Colby Sawyer College.

Debby is predeceased by her husband, Frank Lambert, Jr. as well as their eldest daughter, Deborah “Taba” Lambert Heitmann.

Her other surviving children and grandchildren include: Taba’s son, Frank Heitmann; Debby’s second daughter, Suza Lambert Bowser and her three children: Benjamin, Spellman, and Jamila Stallworth; Debby’s third daughter, Elizabeth Young Lambert; Debby’s fourth daughter, Maria Lambert and her two children: Benjamin Goldstein and Audrey Jaynes; Debby’s fifth daughter is Alison Vernon of New London, New Hampshire, and her three  children: Jeremiah Vernon; Elsa Fogg Vernon; and Arrolyn Vernon; Debby’s sixth daughter, Emily Lambert and Emily’s daughter, Arden Deborah Byrne.

Deborah Lambert is also survived by her brother, Fred Fogg of Lakeport, Florida.

In all, Debby Lambert has 10 grandchildren and 16 great-grandchildren, all of whom mourn the loss of their beloved “GG.”

Donations in Debby’s name may be made to the COA PO Box 1263 New London, NH 03257; LSRVNA Hospice PO Box 2209 New London, NH 03257; or St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church PO Box 294 New London, NH 03257

A small memorial service is scheduled on January 22nd at 3:00 pm on-line via the St. Andrew’s YouTube channel: https://youtu.be/ivNxvD6arI4. with a ZOOM reception at 4:00 pm. Please email either Suza Lambert Bowser or Alison Vernon for the Zoom link: [email protected] or [email protected].