Deborah Huber Monroe

2032 - 2025

Deborah Huber Monroe

Concord, NH - Deborah Huber Monroe, 93, of Concord, New Hampshire

Deborah Huber Monroe passed away peacefully on September 12, 2025. She was born in Detroit on January 8, 1932 to William Rodney Huber and Ruth Sture Huber. She grew up in Pittsburgh, where she graduated from Mount Lebanon High School in 1949. She graduated from Wheaton College in 1953 and married Lowell Wilton Monroe (known as Bill) two weeks later. They were married for 65 years; he predeceased her in 2019. Debbie's older sister, Barbara Huber Sture Johnson of Versailles Indiana, predeceased her in 1992.

Debbie lived in Pittsburgh until her mid-60s, with two years each in Omaha and Wichita for husband Bill's early career with Alcoa. When they moved to Pittsburgh during the 1960 World Series, she was happy to leave tornadoes behind.

She was active in the Junior League of Pittsburgh and a longtime employee of The Village Wardrobe dress shop. She and Bill entertained friends often in the North Hills and hosted dozens of students through the Pittsburgh Council on International Visitors. As a result of their hospitality, they developed lasting friendships spanning the globe. For one year, they hosted Christian Mayor, an American Field Service exchange student from Switzerland. They also traveled extensively, including to Europe, Kenya and Russia.

Though not a musician herself, Debbie and her dear friend Jody Hawbaker listened patiently to Dixieland jam sessions in the barn on Crider Lane led by Bill, Dave Hawbaker, her sons and their high-school friends, along with weekly practices of the Pittsburgh Banjo Club.

Debbie and Bill moved to New Hampshire in 1998 to be closer to four grandchildren. Though they were long-standing Pirates and Steelers fans, once in NH they shifted their allegiances to the Red Sox and Patriots. Debbie particularly loved to watch the Sox, but not so much when they blew a lead.

Debbie produced dozens and dozens of geometric quilts that now adorn the homes of friends and family. She worked at the League of New Hampshire Craftsmen store in Concord and maintained friendships with her colleagues – the League Ladies – through monthly luncheons right up until her passing.

As a member and energetic volunteer of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church in Hopkinton, she provided altar flowers and organized volunteers to prepare monthly meals at Friendly Kitchen in Concord, still making calls just weeks before her death.

Debbie and Bill moved from Contoocook to Havenwood Heritage Heights in 2018, five months before Bill's passing, where she was an active walker and enjoyed her HHH neighbors.

While there was almost always a loyal mid-sized dog or two in the Monroe household, it was the smallest one - a Shorty-Jack Russell named Casper - that made the biggest impression.

Her dearest friend, Peg Kimball of Contoocook, characterized her relationship to Deb as "a gang of two." They chatted daily, walked and XC-skied, dined, sipped a glass or two, had sleepovers, told stories and laughed long (and hardest at themselves).

She is survived by son John Huber Monroe and wife Pamela Bjorn Peck of Belfast, Maine; son William Lowell Monroe and wife Linda Grover Monroe of Georgetown, Massachusetts; grandson Dr. Justin Monroe and wife Dr. Kirstin Tawse, great-grandson Cameron and great-granddaughter Adelaide of Longmont, Colorado; granddaughter Kylah Negus and husband John Negus, great-grandson Wyatt of Boxford, Massachusetts; granddaughter Alessandra Monroe and husband David Banerjea of Roslindale, Massachusetts; and granddaughter Olivia Monroe and fiancé Tornike Shubiditze of Brighton, Massachusetts.

While she always said she felt lucky to raise two boys, she treasured the daughter-like relationship she developed with niece Amy Johnson and her wife Tracey Gersh of Rehoboth Beach DE. Niece Becky Crist lives in Bonny Lake WA.

In lieu of flowers, consider a donation to The Friendly Kitchen, the Society for the Protection of New Hampshire Forests or your local NPR station.

A memorial service will be held at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church on October 24th.