Deborah Pamplin

Deborah M. Pamplin ACWORTH, NH — Deborah Maynard Pamplin, 72, passed away peacefully surrounded by family in her home on December 5, 2022, after a brief bout with cancer. She was born on August 29, 1950, to Al and Audrey Maynard in Baltimore, Md. As a daughter of military parents in the navy, she spent her early years in Rota, Spain, Key West, Florida, and Virginia Beach, Virginia. She attended and graduated from Cox High School in Virginia Beach, VA. After high school, she attended Bridgewater College in Bridgewater, VA, for three and a half years. She enjoyed writing and poetry and majored in English. She was an avid camper and spelunker and loved the outdoors. She met her future husband, William Pamplin, at Bridgewater College. The week after graduation, she married him. They were married for over 51 years until she passed away. After her marriage, she moved to Baltimore, MD, where her husband attended dental school. She worked hard to help her husband with his dental school tuition. She was a secretary for a trucking firm. Later, she was an assistant and secretary for the head of hematology at the University Hospital in Baltimore, MD. Her first child, James, was born in 1974. After her husband graduated from dental school, she moved to Windsor, Vermont. She helped renovate the new dental office in the historic Windsor House, making it a welcoming place for patients with comforting and fun murals about maintaining dental health. The following year, the family moved to Brownsville, VT. She began a lifelong dream and career in farming and animal husbandry. In 1976, she had her second child, Amanda. She continued farming and raising horses. One horse won the Vermont 100 Mile Ride and became Grand Champion, and the same horse also finished second in the Eastern States 100-mile ride. At one point, she raised, rode, and helped train six horses with her daughter Amanda. She helped to establish a maple sugar bush on their property in Brownsville, VT. A hard worker at heart, she helped her husband build a sugar house, cut firewood, and boil the sap to make syrup. Deb was the first to raise mohair from Angora goats in Vermont. She traveled solo to Texas to gather her herd. She learned to shear, card, spin, knit, and crochet the mohair yarn. The extra-length mohair that she produced was prized by doll makers. One of the dolls made from the beautiful mohair she produced on her farm hung from the White House Christmas tree. She taught the staff at Green Mountain Spinnery how to make yarn from mohair, a process that they had not previously tried due to the strength of the mohair damaging the equipment. She supplied Green Mountain Spinnery with mohair and marketed the yarn at several agricultural and craft fairs in Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, and Maryland. She was an active 4-H leader in Brownsville, VT., and served on the local school board. While her children were young, she was an occasional substitute teacher and remained active in 4-H. In 1981, she and “Pan’s Apprentices” -her elementary school group- from Albert Bridge School cut a record with Lunker Records. In 1990, she and her family moved to Weathersfield, VT. She expanded her Angora goat herd to 160 animals and the maple sugar bush to over 2,000 taps. She helped her husband restore a long fallow hay field, drove tractors, and helped to bring in 4,000 bales of hay each year. She took writing classes at Keene State College and wrote several manuscripts, one of which, Forbearance, was published. In the 1990s, Debbie worked with Peace Fleece to gather mohair yarns and package them with sweater patterns. She sent them to Estonian and Latvian knitters, who then returned the finished sweaters, which were then sold at the fairs she attended. It was part of a cold war effort to bring the rural US and Russian farmers together in a joint rural agricultural project. She was a devoted wife and mother and enjoyed cooking for her family. She loved all children, especially her grandchildren. She valued her family and her faith in God. Throughout her marriage, she was a devout practicing Catholic and served as a Eucharistic Minister at St. Mary’s Church in Springfield, VT, and St. Catherine’s Church in Charlestown, NH. In both parishes, she also taught religious education. She loved her pets, especially her dogs. Her favorite time of day was 4:30 in the morning, when she would rise to feed her animals. She was especially fond of lambing season, where she could practice her considerable skills and knowledge in helping goats give birth to healthy offspring. She saved many baby goats’ lives with her talent and dedication. While in Weathersfield, she helped the family cut, split, and stack about 30 cord of wood for the sugarhouse and the farmhouse. While doing all of the above, she maintained a household, made healthy home-cooked meals, and raised two fine children. She and her husband moved to Acworth, NH, where she remained active in church activities at St. Catherine’s Church in Charlestown. She helped her husband in the dental office until 2014. She joined Hospice as a volunteer for several years and traveled to help hospice patients all over Sullivan County. She, in turn, was very grateful for the assistance she received from Keene Hospice in her final weeks and months. She is survived by her husband, William; two children: Dr. James Pamplin and his wife, Diana, and their two children, Rachel and Christopher; and also Amanda French and her husband, Anthony French, and their two children: Benjamin and William. She is also survived by her sister Pamela Galbreath in Laramie, Wyoming. She is also survived by her cousin Norman Breitenbach, his wife Andrea, their children Lindsay and Kathleen, and their families from Maryland. She was predeceased by her parents, Allison and Audrey Maynard. Friends may call at the Stringer Funeral Home, 146 Broad Street in Claremont, NH on Thursday evening, December 8th from 5 to 7 PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated in St. Mary’s Church in Claremont, NH on Friday morning, December 9th at 10:30 AM. Burial will follow at St. Mary Cemetery in Springfield, VT. Memorial donations may be made to Hospice@HCS, PO Box 564, Keene, NH 03431. To view an online memorial or send a private message of condolence please visit www.stringerfh.com