Debra's funeral service will be livestreamed through Clausen Funeral Home & Cremation Services Facebook Page

Debra Jean Richardson was born April 15, 1966, to Elmer and Ruby Richardson at Burke, SD Memorial Hospital.  She was the fifth of six children.  She was baptized and confirmed in the Jamison Methodist Church.  She attended Spotted Tail Elementary School near Jamison, Nebraska, and graduated from Burke High School with the Class of 1984.  She then attended the University of Nebraska in Lincoln.  While there, she was awarded a Fulbright Scholarship to Paris.  This was the beginning of her love of England and France.

She taught at Toulouse, France; Brainerd, Minnesota; Lamar, Colorado; Wootton Bassett, England; and Bismarck, North Dakota.  After eight years of North Dakota winters, she decided to try something completely different.  She purchased and ran a yarn shop in Cirencester, England.  This allowed her to enjoy her favorite activities--knitting, visiting, and drinking tea.  After several years of being a shopkeeper, UK immigration laws changed and she had to move back to the United States.  She settled in Nebraska near her brother Charles and his family and became a teacher again.  She enjoyed teaching, but she also loved the summer breaks so she could travel.  She took many students on European tours, but she always had time for her online yarn shop and her family, especially her nieces and nephews.

Debra had made a trip to England in July to catch up with her many friends and to visit a castle or two.  She was starting to make plans for her retirement from teaching which was going to include much knitting and traveling.  Sadly, her plans did not come to fruition.  On August 25, 2023, she passed away in her sleep at her home in Bellevue, Nebraska.  She was 57 years old.

She is preceded in death by her grandparents, her parents, her brother Tom, many aunts, uncles, and cousins.

Left to mourn her passing are her sisters Dorothy of Jamison, NE and Barbara of Herrick SD; her brothers Leslie of Jamison, NE and Charles (Lisa) of Valley, NE; her nieces and nephews Samantha, Siobhan, Jacob, and Elizabeth; her aunt Kathy Titus; many cousins; her friends in the US and Europe; and the staff and French students of Bellevue West High School.

She touched many lives and will be greatly missed.

Funeral services for Debra Richardson, age 57, of Bellevue, NE and formerly of Jamison, NE, will be held on Friday, September 1, 2023 at 2:00 P.M. at Clausen Funeral Home in Burke.  Burial will be in the Spotted Tail  Cemetery, Jamison.  Visitation will be one hour prior to the service at the funeral home.