Debra Lynn Shindledecker, age 65, of Edgerton, Ohio, passed away at 11:55 P.M. on Friday, May 7, 2021, at Community Health Professionals Inpatient Hospice, near Defiance, Ohio, after a two-year courageous battle with cancer.
Mrs. Shindledecker was a 1974 graduate of Edgerton High School and the Ohio State Highway Patrol Academy and was in the first certified EMT class with Squad 38 in Edgerton.
She joined the Bryan Police Department in 1978 and during her service became the first female road patrol sergeant in the department and retired with twenty-six years of service.
Deb loved her cats and enjoyed helping with her sister’s horses, going on pack trips in Cody, Wyoming, and attending every National Finals Rodeo in Las Vegas since 1992.
She also enjoyed going to casinos and playing Black Jack; traveling to the Bahamas, where she fulfilled her lifelong dream of swimming with the dolphins; ocean voyage trips to Alaska; and trips to see the Budweiser Clydesdale horses.
Debra Lynn Shindledecker was born on April 7, 1956, in Hicksville, Ohio, the daughter of George J. and D. Jeanette (Freidenberger) Burkhart. She married Doyle L. “Pete” Shindledecker on September 30, 1983, at the United Methodist Church in Bryan and he survives.
Surviving in addition to her husband are her sister, Connie Huard; three stepchildren, Wendy (Connie) Shindledecker, of Murrieta, California, Tad (Susan) Shindledecker, of Stryker, Ohio, and Mark (Clarissa) Shindledecker, of Bryan; five grandchildren, Emma, Taylor, Alyssa, Sean and Dean; two great-grandchildren; nieces and nephew, Beth (Mike) Huard, of Holland, Ohio, Tony (Sara) Huard, of Edgerton, and Christine (Derek Distel) Huard; her great-nephews and great-nieces, Lauren, Cole, Mateo, Elle, and Jamie; two sisters-in-law, Goldie (Robert) Wieland and Linda Tennison, both of Bryan; and a brother-in-law, Louis Shindledecker, of Holland, Ohio.
She was preceded in death by her parents.
A reception celebrating Deb’s life will be held Wednesday, May 26, 2021, from 3:00-7:00 P.M. in the Krill Funeral Home, 860 West Mulberry Street, Bryan. Private interment will take place in Maple Grove Cemetery, Edgerton.
Due to the ongoing pandemic restrictions, the family will receive friends while observing social distancing precautions. The family requests visitors use masks in accordance with state mandates. Anyone showing any symptoms of illness is asked to please share condolences by a phone call, email, text message, or leaving a condolence at the funeral home website.
Memorials are requested to Williams County Humane Society.