Biographies

• DEBRA JO - born in October of 1956, she grew up in Central Islip, N.Y. before moving to South Florida at the age of 18. She married her first husband, Al, shortly afterwards but which ended in divorce two years later. She continued living in South Florida and worked as a waitress in some of South Florida's most popular Italian restaurants for the next six years before meeting Bill in 1984. She and Bill became engaged a year later. In 1987, Debra attended the Merryfield Academy for Pet Grooming, graduating with a Groomers Certificate. Since that time and up to the present, Debra has enjoyed breeding Standard Poodles, owning two beautiful show quality dogs. In 1989, Debra adopted Dominica from birth in a single parent adoption, in Ft. Lauderdale. In 1990, Debra, Bill and Dominica moved to Ft. Pierce. Debra and Bill were married a few months later. Just prior to moving to Hernando (Citrus County) in 1992, Debra became pregant with Charlotte, who was born in December of 1992. Debra continued to waitress in a local Italian restaurant and in 1994, Debra and Bill bought their first (and present) home in Inverness. Having injured herself in a slip and fall in a local supermarket in 1997, Debra was rendered unable to perform her duties as a waitress, and found herself with plenty of time on her hands. Loving children as she does, she convinced Bill to attend Mapp classes with her, which resulted in the issuance of their foster home license in December of 1998. Today, Debra is the foster mother to an additional foster daughter and foster son which we hope to adopt in the future if adoption becomes a reality. In 2003, She became the Chairperson of the Citrus County Foster Parent Association's Fundraising Committee.
  
  
• BILL - Born in November of 1950 in Brooklyn, N.Y., Bill was raised in Richmond Hill until he married his first wife, Eileen, in 1972 and moved to Kew Gardens. Bill and Eileen had their first daughter, Kimberly, in September of 1976, and their second daughter, Kelly, in September of 1982. Bill had become a Uniformed Court Officer in 1980, rising to the rank of Leiutenant. He worked mainly with Criminal Court in Kew Gardens, but was assigned for a brief six month period to Family Court in Jamaica. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1984. Shortly afterwards, Bill met Debra Jo. A severe injury to Bill's left shoulder and arm from a car accident in 1985 resulted in his inability to perform his job as a law enforcement officer, and therefore his resignation. Bill relocated to Ft. Lauderdale in September of 1985 and became engaged to Debra Jo. The accident also forced the end of a 15 year stint with the US Army Reserves, where Bill had rose to the rank of 1LT before entering into the Inactive Ready Reserves. Shortly afterwards, Bill was promoted to his present rank of Captain. Two years after arriving in South Florida, Bill had been able to regain much of the usefullness of his left arm and opened his own business as a paint contractor and ceramic tile setter. In 1989, forced to close his business due to the poor condition of the economy, Bill joined Builder Square and rose to Assistant Manager. He, Debra and Dominica moved to Ft. Pierce where he continued to manage in the N. Palm Beach Builders Square before it closed in 1991, six months after he and Debra were married. A year later, He and the family moved to Citrus County, and was greeted with his fourth daughter, Charlotte, in December of 1992. Having studied real estate, Bill obtained his salesperson's license in 1994, however, returned back to retail management because of the soft market at the time. Finally, Bill joined with Big Lots where he is presently an Operations Manager with them. Bill decided to attend Mapp classes with Debra in 1998 because of his love for children, remembering the plight of many of the children that he had met when he was a Court Officer in Family Count in New York. As an additional note, Bill has maintained a commission as a Notary Public for the State of Florida since 1988. In 2001, Bill was elected to the Board of Directors for the Citrus County Foster Parent Association, and was elected President in 2003.
  In 2005, he was elected as Vice Presidency.
  
  
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