Deborah C. Erb

AIKEN, SC - Deborah C. Erb, age 80, died on Monday, January 21, 2019, in an Augusta hospital after a short illness.  A native of Pennsylvania, she has been a resident of Aiken since 1973 and was involved in her family’s businesses, most notably The West Side Bowery.   Anyone who had the privilege of knowing Debbie knew her to be a woman of great strength and great love. She was steadfastly dedicated to her family and the home she created for their gatherings. Debbie was a leader, a teacher, and a life-long learner. She curated a lifetime of knowledge and experiences of great vastness and variety. Debbie was constantly teaching herself new crafts, which she would inevitably master, from basket making to digital photography. She loved to cook and was always testing out new recipes. She had an enviable sense of style and knew what it meant to age gracefully. Debbie was also a resourceful woman. She drove a pickup truck and was known to rearrange all the furniture in her home by herself on a whim. She was an antique aficionado and could host an incredible party. She was the founder of most of the family’s traditions, particularly around the holidays. Her sense of taste echoed through everything she touched, whether she was arranging flowers, the ornaments on her Christmas tree, or simply the fruit basket on her kitchen counter. Debbie was active her entire life. She and Dudley loved taking their loyal and faithful “pup” Pepper out for golf-cart rides and jaunts on the Whitney Polo Field. She could often be found knee deep in the dirt in her garden and for many years it would be common to see chickens and ducks, which she raised from hatchlings, following her around the yard. If you ask her family, she had much more life to live and it might seem that she was taken from this earth too soon. If we were able to ask her, she might say that it was just the way she preferred. She never slowed down, she never showed her age, she came and went as the Debbie we all know and love, funny and feisty and ready for the next adventure. She is survived by her husband of 62 years, Dudley Erb; her daughter, Maggie (David) Sacks; her son, Sam (Donna) Erb, all of Aiken, and her grandchildren, China Durden of Aiken; Lindsay (Bennett) Tucker of Aiken; Catie (Roger) Naranjo of Miami, FL; and Emily Sacks of Asheville, NC. Also surviving are two great grandchildren, Nathan and Laurel Tucker. There will be a private memorial service at a later date. For those who wish, in lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to the Aiken Land Conservancy, P.O. Box 3096, Aiken, SC 29802. SHELLHOUSE FUNERAL HOME, INC., 924 HAYNE AVE., AIKEN, SC 29801 To order memorial trees or send flowers to the family in memory of Deborah C. Erb, please visit our flower store.