 BOWER, DEBORAH LASH PHD Dr. Deborah Lash Bower- psychologist, lobster boat captain, world traveler, business owner, wife, and mother-passed away in Albuquerque on Saturday, December 13, 2014, due to complications of cancer. She was 64. She is survived by her husband of 43 years, Bill Bower; her son, Nicholas Lash Bower; her daughter, Caitlyn Lash Bower; and her son, John William Lash Bower. Deborah was compassionate, intelligent, courageous, and wickedly funny. Her innate abilities of insight and patience enabled her to have a four-decade-long career in mental health care and allowed her to comfort and guide countless patients, clients, friends, and family members. Born September 17, 1950, to John and Loretta Lash of Friendship, Maine, Deborah enjoyed a true Maine childhood-summers spent as "stern man" on her father's famously unnamed lobster boat (which she would later come to captain herself) molded her into an expert mariner; in the winter she could be found studying, running, writing poetry, and crashing around the Maine woods on snowshoes. Deborah graduated from high school in 1968 and went on to attend Aurora University on a full-tuition basketball scholarship. After she earned her bachelor's degree in Behavioral Sciences, she attended Purdue University, Old Dominion University, and the University of New Mexico, where she earned master's degrees in Special Education, Counseling, and Clinical Psychology. She earned a PhD in Clinical Psychology from Fielding Graduate University. Her work in mental health care included positions in counseling, special education, crisis intervention, trauma counseling, and as a parole and probation officer. Upon diagnosis of her illness, she retired from her position as Clinical Psychologist at Presbyterian Hospital in Albuquerque in April 2014. Deborah's divine mandate was to grow, to love, to ease the suffering of others, to teach us how to communicate with each other. She loved fiercely. She allowed herself to experience moments, days, a lifetime, of profound gratitude for the world around her. She would often say, "Live mindfully. It is we who create a better world." A memorial service will be held on Monday, December 22, 2014, at 3pm at the Rio Grande Center for Spiritual Living at 4374 Alexander Boulevard Northeast, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 87107. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made in Deborah's name to Doctors Without Borders at www.doctorswithoutborders.org "Do, or do not. There is no try."
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