ROCKLAND – Deborah Edith Sealey, 75, died on Sept. 22, 2023, at her home in Rockland. She was born in Skowhegan, the daughter of John Clifford Sealey and Elizabeth Page Flemming Sealey.

A graduate of Northfield Mount Hermon School and Case Western Reserve University, Deborah worked as Manager of Imports for G. H. Bass, coordinating communication with the foreign offices, as well as managing customs and logistics. A colleague described her as a “Problem Solver Extraordinaire.” She was later employed by other firms including C. F. Hathaway, and Ansati, where she was Director of Operations. Notwithstanding her management role, throughout her career she felt a sympathetic bond with the workers.

In retirement, Deborah worked as Recording Secretary to Planning Boards and Zoning Boards of Appeal in Rockland, Rockport and Owls Head. In addition, she did volunteer work at the Rockland Public Library. In her work for G.H. Bass, she traveled extensively in the Far East, but she also enjoyed adventurous traveling with friends to South America, to Central America and Europe.

Deborah was known for expressing her fiercely held opinions on an amazingly wide array of topics. She was a stickler for proper grammar, for accurate spelling and pronunciation. She did not suffer fools at all, let alone gladly. She was a redhead.

A proud daughter of Maine, Deb was an imaginative writer, a voracious reader, an articulate speaker. And she could get a whole room laughing happily at stories of her recent misadventures or at her astute observations on life’s inanities.

She was a creative clothes designer and meticulous seamstress. She knitted many more shawls, scarves, hats, and sweaters than even an extended family could use. She was a doting aunt, and she held her knitting friends especially close to her heart.

Deborah loved cats, the romance of horses, windy days on her deck, her ancient, olive drab Scion, daily visits from a squirrel she first named Albert but later, wiser, renamed Alicia, and being aboard a sailing Matinicus Peapod, heeling over in a stiff breeze on Lake Wesserunsett.

Deborah is survived by her brother, Neil Page Flemming (Martha), of Milford Mass., her sister, Mary Flemming Brown (Arthur), of South Kent Conn.; nephews Eric John Flemming (Jennifer), of Sterling Mass., Joshua Flemming Brown (Krisaya), of New York City, N.Y., Alexander Sealey Brown (Chian), of Vashon Wash., and niece, Candice Jean Flemming, of Malden Mass.; also grandnieces Krista M. Flemming, Victoria T. Brown, and Sybil W. Brown, and grandnephew, Wesley T. Brown. All of them will miss her singular and powerful presence in their lives.

A gathering to remember Deborah will be held at a later date.

Donations in her memory can be made to the Rockland Public Library or to Habitat for Humanity.

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