Remembering Deborah
- Mike Brown
- Nov 10
- 2 min read
Updated: Nov 13
Many Bull City Commons members attended Deborah Brogden's memorial service at Pullen Memorial Baptist Church on November 1, 2025.
A week later, we held our own special remembrance evening for Deborah. The invite to the community went like this:
Please bring your own drink as well as your pink hair, big floppy hat, bright, bright clothing, your kazoo, bubbles, or whatever reminds of our wonderful friend.
If you can’t make it but would like to share a story and/or picture, send it along to someone who’ll be there and we will make sure it’s shared!
Deborah was a character in that most Southern sense of the word: a big personality, yet always herself, always memorable. Most of the reminiscences shared in the circle that night were stories of Deborah-behavior or Deborah-isms that became part of Deborah-lore. Her frequent letters to the editor at the News & Observer, her delightful homemade birthday and thank-you cards, and her handmade crafts that decorated dinners and made cherished gifts
Here's one story, remembered by Jim:
It was a Saturday night. Deborah had just moved into her 3rd floor unit a few days earlier. Cornelia and I happened to be discussing something outside Cornelia’s unit next to Deborah’s. Deborah happened to come down the hall and motioned both of us into her apartment. “Come in, come in,” she said, as I recall. Cornelia and I went in and sat down as Deborah indicated. She then poured two glasses of wine and handed one to each of us. “So, tell me about yourselves. Where are you from? How did you get here?” -- questions to that effect. For the next, oh, probably hour we all three talked about our histories, our likes, why we were in BCC. It was a very warm and sweet way to begin forming a true relationship.
Herewith, some pictures from our remembrance evening for Deborah, plus a few others from the archive.
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