Interview with Debbie Heltborg by Michelle Carter Smith
Special Education Assistant at CAPS
*Focuses on caring for & educating children with disabilities or special needs
Milk River, Alberta, Canada was Debbie's place of birth and she was one of seven children born to her parents. There were TWO sets of twins in the family! Debbie was the third child and is not a twin. The first set of twins were born just after her, and seven years later, another set of twins were born. The funny thing is, Debbie's mom was told she would not ever be able to conceive. There are 11 years between the oldest and the youngest and at one point, there were five children in the house under the age of four. Debbie's mom stayed home full-time until all the kids were in school. Her dad was a customs broker, and her mom joined him as a customs broker when she went back to work. Both parents have now passed.
It was a busy childhood for Debbie as she lived with her family in a small farming community of about 500, located near the U.S. border. Some of her classmates traveled as far as 70 miles EACH way to attend school. All of the "country kids" had a plan in place to stay with one of the "city families" if the weather did not permit them to travel back home after school. Debbie was a "city kid" who attended the same school from grade 1-9, then traveled 15 miles to attend the local high school. Debbie played softball, basketball and also ran track and field throughout her childhood. She describes herself as extremely shy and quiet as a child and says she loved to be at home, cooking, cleaning, baking, reading books and helping her mom with what was needed. Her first job at age 10 was delivering newspapers both in Canada and just across the border in Sweetgrass, Montana. Debbie says she literally walked across the border to do her entire route, thinking nothing of the responsibility or the distance. Debbie loved the outdoors as a child and still does today. She has always been a hard worker, taking on numerous jobs in her youth. She babysat, did her newspaper deliveries, cleaned houses, waitressed, did yard work, etc. After graduating high school, she then attended college in Rexburg, Idaho for two years, earning an associate's degree in arts and sciences. Just before graduation, she attended a community celebration and met her future husband. He asked her to dance on a bet, and the rest is history! This year they will celebrate their 40th wedding anniversary. After marrying, they moved back to the Portland Area where her husband Jeff was finishing school. Debbie did not have a work visa, so was supporting Jeff with his work and school and was doing volunteer work. After the visa arrived, Debbie got a job doing administrative work for various companies. She later worked for Legacy Children's Hospital as an administrative assistant for 17 years. Before taking the hospital position, she went back to school to pursue a degree in Elementary Education. She realized that was not the path she wanted. In 2000, she gave birth to her only child, a son named Seth. When Seth was four years old, Debbie decided to go part-time with work. She began working at home doing medical transcription as well as on-call work for various other things. In 2011, Debbie decided to work as an administrative/financial assistant for the church that they attended. In 2017, they decided to open a restaurant called Killer Burger. Things went great for several years and then Jeff's job as a respiratory therapist was keeping him too busy and so they sold the restaurant.
In 2022, Debbie began working for the Corbett School District. She was yearning to work for a school and be close to their Corbett home. They had built a home in Corbett in 2008 and Seth graduated from Corbett High in 2018. Debbie was hired as a special education assistant and has been with the district ever since. She has worked both at CAPS and the high school and now she is back at CAPS. She feels very blessed to have the opportunity to work with the kids in the special education program.
Debbie and Jeff love being in the outdoors and enjoy kayaking, hiking, golfing, biking and traveling. They are considering a trip to Iceland and Ireland this year to celebrate 60/40. Her birthday and their anniversary!