Deb Shishman
Tri Kappa Debra “Deb” Shishman and her husband, Scott, sure know what they want.
During their junior year at Notre Dame and its sister school, St. Mary’s, Deb and Scott attended the same party. After he asked her to grab him a beer from the fridge nearby, Scott turned to a buddy and remarked, “That’s the kind of girl you marry.”
Later in college, a mutual friend set Deb up with Scott during an SYR event. (Ironically, SYR stands for “Screw Your Roommate.”)
“After that first night, I said, ‘Oh, my gosh! That’s the guy I’m going to marry,’ ” Deb laughs.
After a five-year cross-country romance, they finally sealed the deal. They now have three grown children, Megan, Matthew and Maria. Megan is also a Tri Kappa.
Initially an Elkhart Tri Kappa, Deb joined the Alpha chapter at the urging of Amanda Burnham and Beth Theile, Bloomington South parents just like Deb.
She was a good catch. Deb had served as president of the Elkhart chapter and vice president twice. She jumped right into the Btown group, where she immediately became the basket guru for “Blingo” and helped Maria Douglas on the Small Sacrifice Committee.
That’s pretty par for the course for Deb. She is an active member of St. Charles Catholic Church, where she organizes the children’s liturgy for the 10 a.m. mass; is a “superhero” for the early education project “Thrive by Five”; and volunteers with the Salvation Army.
In her spare time, she teaches kindergarten at St. Charles Borromeo School.
A special passion for Deb is Uganda. She sponsors a child, Ronald, at St. Jerome’s School there. Interested in the sister church in his hometown and the work being done, Deb loaded up her three children and flew to Africa for an almost-three-week missionary experience in 2017.
“We met Ronald’s parents,” Deb remembers. “They gave us sugar cane, a basket, a live chicken, plantains, avocados, and many other fruits and vegetables. His dad was so proud his son got to go to school.”
Deb was in charge of gifting Ugandan children a pair of shoes and a letter written by a member of the Bloomington church.
“They wrote back to us. It’s just so awesome (an experience),” Deb says.
And awesome is pretty much how Deb describes the women she’s met in the Alpha chapter. That’s her favorite part of the organization.
“I get to know so many wonderful women in the community,” Deb says.
More About Deb:
Indiana state accordion finalist
Is the oldest of four sisters
Girl Scout turned troop leader
Loves her two golden doodles
Her immigrant seamstress grandmother taught her to sew