CUMBERLAND

BESSETTE, Debra J. (Sabourin) 71, of Cumberland lost her courageous battle with cancer on Thursday, October 27, 2022 surrounded by her family. For the past 45 years she was the beloved wife of John E. Bessette Jr.

Born in Providence, she was the daughter of the late Omer and Helen (Kaminski) Sabourin. She was raised in Lincoln and resided in Cumberland for 45 years.

Mrs. Bessette was employed as a Secretary for the Cumberland School Department for 35 years, most of which were spent in the High School Library. She retired in 2018.

Debi as she is affectionately known, had a creative spirit. She was a talented and skilled multi-disciplinary artist who excelled in creating beautiful objects for her family and friends to enjoy. She loved to elaborately decorate her home for Christmas and to shop. She enjoyed vacationing with her husband, their special spots were Maine, Cape Cod, Florida and Southern California. Most of all she cherished being a proud, loving and devoted mother and grandmother and would go above and beyond for her loved ones. She was a communicant of the Historic St. Joseph Church. Debi's life would seem too short to many, but those who were blessed to be touched by her understand that her existence and the imprint she left on our hearts exceed the quantity of time that she stayed here.

In addition to her husband, she leaves her son, Scott Pelletier and his wife Melissa Day Pelletier of North Smithfield; her two daughters, Ashley Bessette and her husband Scott Veloso of Cumberland and Amanda Bessette and her husband Roger Gastman of Los Angeles, CA; her grandchildren, Logan, Emma, Shawn, and Aubrey; her two sisters, Cheryl King of Cumberland and Madelyn Crosby of Texas; She also leaves her brothers-in-laws, Paul King, Richard Crosby, Michael, Thomas and Richard Bessette; sisters-in-laws Dorie and Jane Sabourin, Lisa and Susan Bessette and Lauren Williams; as well as many cherished cousins, nieces, nephews and friends. She was the sister of the late Donald Sabourin, Glenn Sabourin, and Joyce Marinelli and sister-in-law of the late Timothy Bessette.

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to Debi's Life Celebration to be held with Visiting Hours on Tuesday, November 1, 2022 from 4 to 7 PM and continue on Wednesday, November 2, 2022 at 11 AM in the J. J. Duffy Funeral Home, 757 Mendon Road, Rt. 122, Cumberland. A Mass of Christian Burial will follow at 12 Noon in the Historic St. Joseph Church, Mendon Road, Cumberland. Burial will follow in the Resurrection Cemetery, Cumberland.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in her memory to St. Jude Childrens Research Hospital, 262 Danny Thomas Place, Memphis, TN 38105.

ONLINE MEMORIAL: jjduffyfuneralhome.com