Debra Lynn Luna
March 1, 1972 – September 18, 2014
On September 18, 2014 Debra Lynn Luna lost a hard-fought battle against depression and succumbed in Nogales, AZ to this unrelenting illness at the age of 42. A bright light has gone from the earth. During a vigil held for Debbie in Tucson on September 22, a little friend best described the battle Debbie fought. Levi Padilla, 13, recounted how “Debbie would always go with us on the rides at the fair and she would be screaming in so much fear that the operator would stop the ride to ask if she wanted off and she would always say ‘No, I have to stay on with the kids.’ ” Finally, Debbie would ask the operator to let her off the ride.
Many Patagonians remember Debbie as a great friend and a wonderful jazz and blues singer who occasionally sang with the local band, Haywire. Though she was often compared to Julie London and her blues could’ve sprung from the Delta, Debra was actually born in Lompoc, California on March 1, 1972, miles from the Mississippi. She was such a dimply, cheerful baby that her family nicknamed her Pooh Bear. She had a wicked sense of humor and, when she was older, there wasn’t a joke too corny or too bawdy for her to tell.
Debra learned to play flute in high school and later got into the University of Arizona’s music program purely on her flute and vocal audition for the program’s director. She focused on jazz and business and graduated with a B.A. in Music Business in 2007. During her college career and afterwards, Debra performed at venues such as Cuvee’s, the Desert Diamond Casino, Hacienda del Sol, La Misión de San Miguel and the Tucson Jazz Festival–to name a few. She forged a career in the tough, male-dominated field of jazz music that far too often devalues female artistry and brilliance. Her favorite jazz guitarist, Dan Griffin, recognized her as a peer and they recorded a few CDs together.
Debra’s family was central to her life and her brother and sisters remember her as a someone who would do anything for family including donning a hot, itchy Pooh Bear costume to celebrate her niece, Kali’s, fifth birthday, or smuggling the kids into jazz nightclubs to listen to her sultry vocals, or sing at any fundraiser her ever-scheming sister would push her into for the local Montessori School. Her boyfriend, Tom Tellez, loved how she would hike into wilderness with him, then head to Scotty’s for a round of pool. Her best friend Ric Howell remembers her steadfast support of him at the VA Hospital in Tucson.
At the end of her life, Debbie could not overcome her grief for those who died before her: her mother and father, Peggy and Gilbert Luna, and her beloved sister, Julia. She still sang for her family despite her constant mental anguish and pain. Her sisters who remain, Kathy Anderson, of Goshen, California, Sherry Luna, of Tucson, AZ, Angela Luna, of Sequim, WA and her brother, Gilbert Luna, of Bossier City, LA, are picking up the pieces of their shattered hearts with the help of those who loved this wild, energetic, brilliant woman. Bye, bye blackbird. We’ll see you on the other side.