Coming October 2026
Coming October 2026
To all who believe in second chances, the power of listening to the sacred voices within, and the courage to begin anew.
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Deborah (Walter) Samuel was born in Rogers, Arkansas, into the third generation of the Walter family. Entrepreneurial by nature, she started a successful service business while still in high school, and then supported herself through technical school, earning both a pilot’s and an airplane and powerplant mechanic’s license, before obtaining a master’s degree in education. Over a twenty-year career in the Rogers Public School District, she created innovative programs for at-risk youth and was repeatedly honored as Arkansas Teacher of the Year for her ten years of work at Crossroads Alternative School, devoted to kids she especially understood, many abused or trapped by drugs, many already with children, severely at risk of failure. In 2006, she received national attention when she was named National Physical Education Teacher of the Year and was invited to give presentations throughout the country on her program’s success. At the same time, during those years she and Susan also bought, renovated, and resold twenty-three homes; built six homes for themselves, ending with the one on Rogers Lake; and then renovated the green house, Deborah’s childhood home.
Now living in Santa Barbara, California, Deborah is a respected real estate professional, specializing in helping seniors who need to sell their homes and then navigate the emotional and logistical challenges of downsizing to a new home. She lives with her spouse and their beloved cat, Black Cat, in the Santa Barbara Harbor aboard a wooden 1973 Grand Banks yacht named Summer Solstice.
Grace Through Fire
Copyright © 2025 She Writes Press
Editor: Amely Greeven
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