Shining Lights of Everyday People

“Not all of us can do great things but we can do small things with great love.”—Mother Teresa

By Joanie Allbee

Debra A. Dion-Faust sat for a sketch in July of 2020. She was happy and light, like a butterfly. She expressed how she was chemotherapy free as of May 2020 and she was relieved. Her focus was healing and getting back into the swing of things gradually. As she sat in a chair for her portrait for The Saugus Advocate “Guess Who Got Sketched” contest, Debbie – the Saugus Woman of the Year in 2019 – was relaxed and talkative.

She took out her crochet project and was contently working away as she posed for a sketch. So we decided to add in a whole pose, not just a face, for the contest. She liked that idea.

As part of the contest, a reader would then guess who the sketch was of, call, and then would be entered into a drawing and would win a $10.00 gift card from various sponsors if their name was drawn. Shirley Bogdan was our winner. She had guessed Debbie and won a Dunkin’ card.

Debbie was born in Pottstown, Pa., and later spent her years teaching English in High School and Theatre in Ipswich, Mass. She loved the Theatre and soon became a great asset to the Theatre Company of Saugus. The Theatre is located in the Saugus American Legion Post #210 at 44 Taylor St., Saugus, where Debbie was a Women’s Auxiliary member. This made it easy to bask in theatre life and keep a close relationship with the theatre folks.

Often at the plays, she tended the intermission concession stand and bar for the Saugus American Legion. Debbie could be seen crocheting and watching the plays and adding critiques to actors eager for feedback.

As the sketch progressed, she chatted about how she met her husband, Joe Dion. They met over his assisting her with afterschool theatre production when the two had school-age children. She expressed how Joe became the love of her life as the two worked on theatre designs of long ago. That summer’s day, Debbie talked about falling in love with Joe, theatre life, crocheting and members’ talk about the upcoming Women’s Auxiliary American Legion meeting.

A mother, grandmother and great-grandmother, Debbie is survived by her husband Joe E. Dion and her two daughters: Joanne and Andrea.

A Shining Light in our Community has gone out. But she leaves a luminosity among fellow friends.

Rest in Peace, Debbie. – Aug. 7, 2025