Deborah Winn Smith

Deborah Winn Smith, 51, passed away on Sunday, September 12, 2021 at Wayne Memorial Hospital.

Debi was born on March 18, 1970 in Avon Park, Florida.  She moved to Wayne County with her family when she was only six years old and attended the Wayne County School System, eventually graduating from Wayne County High School in 1988 where she was a cheerleader for the football and basketball programs.  Debi was a people person who worked in various marketing positions with several different companies over the years including Jones Medical Equipment and Hospice of South Georgia.  She loved volunteering and helping people. Her natural tendency to care for others made her a natural fit for the positions she held over the years at Concerted Services and Fair Haven.  Her final career was as CEO of United Way of South Georgia where she served eight counties and twenty-six agencies.  Debi was always proud of the way her community had given to the organization with such generosity, especially in her Rayonier Campaign, the largest capital raising project of the year.  Debi’s love for her community was apparent and she always “gave back” any time she was able. She served as the president of the Rotary Club of Jesup for two terms and had served on the Downtown Development Authority for over five years where she always volunteered on the Arch Fest Committee.  Debi was a graduate of Leadership Wayne class of 2016 and had been awarded the honor of being named Ambassador of the Year by the Wayne County Chamber of Commerce for her devotion to the success of the business sector in Jesup and Wayne County.  She was a long time member of the Crossroads Church of God where she sang in the Choir.  Debi loved thrift stores, flea markets, collecting antiques and traveling but her favorite times were spent with the ones she loved the most, her family.  She loved them all and cherished the times they spent together.  Her compassionate and caring nature made her a mother to many children not her own and she always instilled the virtues of serving others above oneself in her children.

Her father, Theo Winn, and her brother-in-law, Robert Smith, preceded her in death.

Survivors include her husband of twenty-five years, Chris Smith of Jesup; two children Zach and Zoe Smith both of Jesup; mother Helen Winn of Jesup; two sisters, Lisa Smith of Screven and Dana Cox of Jesup; mother-in-law and father-in-law, Bill and Imogene Smith of Jesup, brother-in-law, Shelton Smith and wife, Kathy and sister-in-law, Jennifer Beasley and husband, Steve all of Jesup.  A host of nieces, nephews, cousins and extended family members also survive.

Visitation will be from 5:00 until 8:00 on Wednesday, September 15, 2021 at Howard & Jones Funeral Home in Jesup.

Funeral services will be at 11:00 a.m. on Thursday, September 16, 2021 at Crossroads Church of God with Rev. Brandon Stone officiating.

Interment will follow in Pinecrest Memorial Cemetery.

Active pallbearers will be Trenton Smith, Jason Priester, Dustin Cox, James McCorkel, Nikki Martin and Dell Keith.

In lieu of flowers, remembrances may be made to United Way of South Georgia, P.O. Box 690, Jesup, GA 31598.

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