Deborah M. Arner

Deborah M. Arner, 89 years old, of Bethlehem, died on January 5, 2026, at Bethlehem Manor in Bethlehem, PA.
Born on February 16,1936, in Port Chester, New York, Debbie was raised in Larchmont, NY. She was the oldest of the three children of Donald and Eleanor (Dobson) Martin. Voted the funniest girl in her class, she graduated from Mamaroneck (NY) High School in 1953. At Vassar College, she majored in human development and completed more than three years there before leaving school in 1957 for Boston, MA. In Massachusetts, she met her first husband, the (late) Rev. Robert D. Samuelson, and she joined him in serving churches in Illinois, New York, Connecticut, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania.
In addition to caring for her family, Debbie served as a volunteer at the Kemmerer Museum in Bethlehem and loved singing in the church choir. She also held various positions throughout the years including being a teacher's aide for the Bethlehem Area School District and an employee at the St. Luke's Hospital coffee shop, The Oasis. For several years, she worked as a bank teller before retiring from the Lehigh Valley Bank.
After years of determination and hard work, Debbie completed her education at Moravian College in 2009, receiving a bachelor's degree in English at the age of 73.
Debbie loved to travel, visiting North Dakota, Maine, Florida, Texas, California, New Jersey, Bermuda, Prince Edward Island, England, Sweden, Germany, and France in her lifetime. Together, with her second husband (the late David W. Arner), Debbie thoroughly enjoyed visiting presidential homes, libraries, and museums from Virginia to Tennessee and from Massachusetts to Indiana.
Church and faith were always central in Debbie's life. Throughout the years, she had been a member of Protestant churches of different denominations; however, for the last twenty-five years, she was a member of the Life in Christ Church in Bethlehem.
Debbie thoroughly enjoyed writing, whether it was handwritten notes to her children and lifetime friends or essays for her college classes or just for the fun of it! She also enjoyed crossword puzzles, Scrabble, classical music, reading, and her daily devotions. In addition, she loved singing church hymns, family history, genealogy, and family heirlooms.
Survivors: She will be remembered by her five children, Steve (Sheri Sadler) Samuelson, Julie (Dan) Heffernan, John (Mary Velez) Samuelson, Joanna (Shane Gillies) Samuelson, and George (Liz) Samuelson. She is survived by a sister-in-law (Jacqueline P. Martin) and her nephews Scott, Samuel and Joseph, step-son Dave (Bonnie) Arner, Jr., and she leaves behind sixteen grandchildren: James, Brian, Molly, Nikki, Ethan, Carter, Maggie, Michael, Evie, Rachel, Martin, Ingrid, Charlotte, Emmett, Henry and Malcolm, as well as three great-grandchildren: Ruth, Arden and Ava. Debbie was predeceased by her husband of 40 years (David W. Arner), her parents, a brother (Dr. Donald C. Martin), a sister (Virginia L. Martin), a step-son (Mark B. Arner) and a step-daughter (Nancy I. Arner).
Services: A celebration of Debbie's life will take place this summer at both the funeral home and the memorial garden at First Presbyterian Church in Bethlehem. Debbie's arrangements are entrusted to Cantelmi Long Funeral Home, Bethlehem. A memory tribute may be placed at www.cantelmifuneralhome.com.
Contributions: Memorial gifts may be made to the Alzheimer's AssociationDelaware Valley Chapter. https://www.alz.org/delval