It Happened in Crawford County: A family tradition of service through The Salvation Army
Debbra Grace is a daughter of Paul and Norma Satterlee from Corry and Greenville, Pennsylvania, respectively. They met while working in The Salvation Army (TSA) youth programs and camp.
Deb was about 1 when her parents went to TSA Seminary for one year of officer training in the Bronx. Next, her parents were commissioned, ordained and appointed to Youngstown. Deb has a sister Robin who was born in Ohio.
Their parents had a number of appointments, and when Deb started high school, they moved to Warren, Ohio, where she met Tom Grace. Tom likes to say she pursued him, and Deb lets him tell that story, but nobody believes him. They began dating in her junior year while attending TSA youth programs and worked at camp together. During a youth retreat weekend, Tom asked Deb to marry him and in 1978 they married while still in college.
Initially, Deb was working for a doctor and working her way through college by commuting to Youngstown State. She graduated, kept her job, but she was also pregnant with Lindsay. Lindsay was a very colicky baby. Her parents had just moved; it a very difficult year. Deb planned to work part time as they needed the income, but with the circumstances she stayed home one year. Long story short, Deb began working for other doctors until she was hired by The Salvation Army in Akron. Their daughter Courtney was also born in Akron at that time.
More: In Happened in Crawford County: Major Tom Grace's winding road to Bucyrus
First appointment with Salvation Army was in Wooster
The Graces left Akron for New Jersey, working for TSA. They were miserable there and were happy to move to Dayton where her parents managed TSA. Deb became the office manager. They were campaigning for a new building and had also just lost their community center director. Tom Grace was hired for the job. He worked with a board member to open their first after-school learning center. He understood how important the program was and now has the confidence to launch that same type program here in Bucyrus.
Tom felt the call to ministry in 1990, not Deb, but they both went on The Salvation Army College for Officer Training at Suffern, N.Y. During the process, they were both accepted, but the family had grown to three when Tyler was born. When you are in TSA seminary it’s full time. You are living in a dorm and can’t have a job, so you need to really budget to get through two years. The seminary had a Family Care Center on campus for the children. Tyler turned 3 while there, and the girls were 7 and 9. They served a summer assignment in Waterbury, Connecticut, and the second Christmas they were in Bridgeport.
The Graces were ordained and commissioned in 1992 and sent to Wooster for their first appointment as TSA officers. It was a good place to start. The Salvation Army was relatively new there, and they were only the second officers in the city. They made major transitions while serving there.
Deb chartered her first women’s auxiliary in Wooster and it’s still there doing good work. Those ladies also helped build Deb’s confidence and what she could do. Later, while in Wadsworth, she chartered a women’s auxiliary. She had her own ministry separate from Tom’s. TSA can be very male dominated. Tom and Deb are equals in the ministry, but Wooster was difficult because they had to figure out their own roles.
Usually when the alarm goes off in the morning, couples head their own way to jobs. Tom felt he had to fit into the administrative role, and Deb did, too. Tom is a very creative thinker and writer and comes up with great ideas; while Deb is very detailed and organizational. They had to figure out who they were in Christ, not the way TSA intended. It took years for each one to go on their own path without interfering with each other. It’s a situation that many retired couples make, not when they are starting their careers.
By Wadsworth, Tom and Deb had figured their roles out, and now they have a great affection for Bucyrus. In those earlier days, urban areas were harder, but now they can enjoy being a part of smaller, warm community. Soup Soap and Salvation is a longstanding slogan that describes the partnership between TSA and the community.
Deb can see a thread that runs through her life of God’s faithfulness and direction which brought them to Bucyrus. All their life experiences have prepared the couple to finish well here. Deb was certain she would start a women’s auxiliary while living here. Women are a mighty force to be reckoned with, and they do great things for this community. Deb feels it’s a privilege to be used by the Lord in that way.
There is no question in Tom and Deb’s mind that God has put them where he wants for right now. She plans to end her career as a good and faithful servant and let “Him” use her as he pleases.
Go online for more of Mary Fox’s stories and photos on bucyrustelegraphforum.com. If you are interested in sharing a story, write Mary Fox, 931 Marion Road, Bucyrus, OH 44820 or email littlefoxfactory@columbus.rr.com.
This article originally appeared on Bucyrus Telegraph-Forum: Deb Grace and her journey with The Salvation Army to Bucyrus
