Speech by Peggy Kline for Debby

I first met Debby McCalley in the fall of my sophomore year here at Bishop Chatard. She was a junior.

The first thing I noticed about her was not her disability, but her leadership and enthusiasm for this school and her classmates.

Today, I know that same person. Her leadership and enthusiasm has remained unchanged throughout the years despite the trials and tribulations she has experienced. If anything, her zest for life and service has grown and continues to grow each day.

Although the mission statement of Bishop Chatard has changed over the years, the idea has always been the same: to develop the academic, spiritual, physical, and social potential of its students within a community rooted in Catholic teachings and values.

As a student, an alumna, a volunteer, a supporter, and a parent of Bishop Chatard High School, Debby Doyle McCalley has never failed to live up to the mission of the school. Her leadership began as a student in the 1970’s but has grown and extended into her role as a parent and volunteer.

A few weeks ago John Schaunessy wrote and article for the Criterion on Debby’s role as a leader on the sophomore retreats. Debby’s daily life appears challenging and overwhelming to most of us, yet in her sophomore retreat talk she explains that she has been given a wonderful life. She admits that at times she, like each of us, has questioned her faith in God.

Many years ago, she once asked God why he would plague her and her brothers and sisters with such a difficult disease. She even prayed for him to take the disease away. God answered her prayers, and while it was not the answer she prayed for she was willing to embrace it nonetheless. She realized she was concentrating on the negatives and had been overlooking all the positive things in her life.

Debby is a lifelong member of St. Pius X parish. After attending grade school at St. Pius X, she entered Bishop Chatard in the fall of 1970. She graduated in 1974 and went on to continue her studies as a business and finance major at Butler University.

She worked for the IRS for twenty seven years in research, taxpayer service, auditing, personnel and program analysis before retiring in 2004. She is one of the brightest, most articulate people I know and she has been able to use her intelligence to help others.

The most positive thing about Debby’s life is her family. She is the oldest of six brother and sisters. She recounts the days growing up on Cricklewood Road as the most beloved a child could experience. She has two of the most beautiful young daughters here at Bishop Chatard. Erin is a senior headed to Purdue next year and Katie is a freshman. As a mother I have always admired her parenting skills. She has always put Erin and Katie ahead of herself. The unconditional love she has shown them and the strong Catholic morals and values she has instilled in them are evident in both of her daughters. She has demanded of them the perfection she so easily demonstrates with her own life. Erin and Katie have fulfilled her dreams. They are sensitive, caring girls with Debby’s passion for family, friends and Bishop Chatard.

Her passion is and always has been toward the youth of the community. She became involved in athletics and youth ministry long before her children reached the age of participation. She has given a significant amount of her time and talent to St. Pius youth ministry and athletics as a mentor, coach, and supporter. She followed this call to service to Bishop Chatard when her Erin began as a freshman. She has been present at an innumerable amount of sporting events and extra-curricular activities.

Her dedication is evident when she weathers the hardest rain and coldest nights to cheer on the football team. She even created a room in her house with a wall dedicated to the youth she has so avidly served. She has opened her heart and her door to so many St. Pius and Bishop Chatard students as well as friends of Katie and Erin, friends and classmates of her own, and everyone in between. She invites anyone who enters her home to sign his or her name, in addition to their school and year of graduation, on a wall with a Trojan head on it. The one hundred plus signatures on this wall symbolize her love of each person and acceptance of his or her background as she did not limit it to Bishop Chatard students. Her current volunteer commitments to Bishop Chatard personify its mission, as she helps the students academically, spiritually, physically, and socially.

She helps Raylene Carr with athletics and Mary Schaffner with campus ministry, but her unofficial commitment is to the students. She helps students academically by tutoring for tests, helping with projects, and assisting with SAT preparation. I’ll never forget when my daughter Anna had trouble grasping the concept of genetics in 7th grade. Debby sat with Anna at a CYO volleyball game and explained her genetic disease, Muscular Dystrophy. Anna learned about more than a complicated analysis of X’s and Y’s that make up genetics, she learned about life – the challenges and the joys, the tragedies and the triumphs. She also witnessed how an individual with odds of one in ten million chooses to deal with the plan God has for each of us. She helps the students spiritually by attending sophomore retreats and sharing her story. A story that is both challenging and rewarding to tell and hear. She helps the students physically through athletics. She helps in the athletic office with paper work and computer techniques, but she is also a fan of every Bishop Chatard athlete. She helps the students socially as a mentor and a friend. Friends of Erin and Katie rely on Debby as a mentor.

After a visit with Debby, every kid leaves feeling uplifted, loved, and confident. Johnny Dury finds it hard to grasp the words to describe visits with Debby. He settles on the fact that, “Well, she’s just inspirational!”

Debby is a member of the Class of 1974 from Bishop Chatard, a class that has produced some of the finest individuals in our community. They have given back to BCHS, and Debby is a leader among them. Many of them have received this Award and now Debby joins them with this honor. To quote Johnny Dury again, because I so strongly agree – “She’s just inspirational!”

Congratulations Debby!