Deborah Davis Erwin

PORTSMOUTH, RI ? Deborah ?Debbie? Davis Erwin, 57, of 141 Ferry Landing Circle, Portsmouth, RI died, Saturday, February 4, 2006, at home, after a 27 year battle with adenoid cystic cancer.For 30 years, she was the wife of Captain Richard Erwin, USN, Ret.Born in Fort Wayne, Indiana on November 28, 1948, she was the daughter of the late John and Margaret Tuerff Davis.Mrs. Erwin graduated from Ashland University in Ohio. As a tireless Navy wife, she moved with her family twelve times over the 30 years her husband served in the US Navy. She was a member of the Navy Officer Wives Club in Newport and was at one time the Chairman of the Scholarship Committee. Debbie was also a member of the National Sorority PEO. More recently she was a volunteer and booster at the Portsmouth Abbey School, a Portsmouth Pirates Mom, and a pilgrim to the Healing Shrine of Mary in Lourdes, France with the Knights of Malta, as well as a counselor for cancer patients nationwide for over 10 years. Debbie?s smile will be missed by all who were fortunate to have it shine on them. Her spirit and strength will remain an inspiration to all who knew her. Besides her husband she is survived by two sons Richard Erwin Jr. of Newport, RI, and Michael Austin Erwin of Villanova University, and two brothers John Davis Jr. of Charlotte, SC, and Richard Davis of Orlando, FL, an aunt Sara Pride of New York, NY and several nieces, nephews, and cousins.A Mass of Christian Burial will be held on Wednesday, February 8, 2006, at 10:00AM, in the Portsmouth Abbey, Coreys Lane, Portsmouth. Burial will be private.Calling hours will be held on Tuesday, February 7, 2006, from 5-8PM, in the Memorial Funeral Home, 375 Broadway, Newport, RI.Memorial donations may be made to the Portsmouth Abbey School, Corys Lane, Portsmouth, RI, 02871 or to the Adenoid Cystic Carcinoma Organization International, P.O. Box 15482 San Diego, CA 92175-5482.