Deborah Mclaughlin

Deborah Honig Mclaughlin Apil 12, 1966 – January 31, 2025
Deborah Sue Honig Mclaughlin was a very kind and caring person. She was spunky, impulsive, and loving. She had an easy sense of humor and was quick to laugh. She cared deeply about her family and always sought to stay in touch even when she moved to Toronto, Canada. As a young girl, she was very active in gymnastics, and it was through some muscular problems that she encountered while doing gymnastics that she learned that she and her father (Sheldon Honig) had myotonic dystrophy. Deborah was not vanquished by this diagnosis, and she continued to live an active life up until the last few years before her death.
Debbie loved her parents, Sheldon and Gloria, and her older brothers, Steven and Paul. and was always interested in what was going on in their lives. Her love of children was ever present. As a teenager, she was a mother's helper for two summers for our cousin Amy Ilowitz Singer, caring for her young cousins, Josh and Jessica. Their relationship continued through the years, and Debbie was a frequent visitor to their home in Connecticut, where Amy's husband Rob called her his second daughter. Amy holds many fond memories of their time together, punctuated with laughter and a shared love of the music of James Taylor and Joni Mitchell.
Debbie attended the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and then married a Canadian citizen living in the United States and was a loving stepmother to his two children, Aaron and Samantha, with whom she kept in touch with after her divorce from their father. She was a dedicated caretaker and patient advocate during her mother's (Gloria Honig) illness. Her mother wanted her by her side. After her mother's death, she moved to Canada with her first husband. During her time in Canada, she studied for a nursing degree. She divorced her first husband and then married her second husband, Phil (Mclaughlin), also a Canadian, becoming a loving stepmother to Phil's two daughters, Alana and Makayla. For all the years between her mother's death and her own death, Deborah lived in Canada. As the years went by, Deborah's medical condition worsened as the muscular dystrophy weakened her body. She finally succumbed to pneumonia.
Deborah is survived by two brothers Steven (Scott) and Paul (Diane), her husband Phil, two nephews, Jacob and Harry, two stepdaughters, Alana and Mikayla, and many cousins. She was especially close to her cousin Amy Ilowitz Singer (Rob)and her family. She was predeceased by her parents Sheldon (2010) and Gloria (2002) Honig.
In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to The Muscular Dystrophy Association (www.mda.org).