MEET ONE OF OUR NEWEST ROTARIAN, DEBBIE FOX, the woman behind Dan, the man we’ve known for 33 years.
Debbie Fox was born in 1954 in Sydney, Nebraska, in Cheyenne County, and her early family life followed her father’s fortunes. When Debbie was six, her father decided to attend Palmer Chiropractic College in Davenport, Iowa, the founding college of chiropractic and known as “The Fountainhead.” Established in 1898 by Daniel David Palmer, it was the first school of chiropractic in the world.
When Debbie was eleven, in 1965, her dad, having made the move to California, purchased a chiropractic practice in Downey, at the corner of Second Street and Myrtle, just behind the main Firestone Post Office. “He practiced there until Dan and I bought the practice from him in 1985,” Debbie says. And it was in Downey that Debbie met Dan Fox, at the First Baptist Church of Downey, where they both sang in the Youth Choir. “We dated about three years and were married in September of 1980.”
“I had a great opportunity to expose Dan to chiropractic,” Debbie says. Chiropractic is a form of alternative medicine mostly concerned with the diagnosis and treatment of mechanical disorders of the musculoskeletal system, especially the spine. “Both of us began our chiropractic studies in Pasadena, and received our degree after the three year course of study at Cleveland College in Kansas City, Missouri. I still keep my license current and can fill in for Dan when he gets stuck on jury duty.”
Returning to Downey, Debbie and Dan began practice with Debbie’s father. But pregnant with their first child, Debbie had to stop working because of severe morning sickness. Today that first child, daughter Lauren Fox Torres, works as a teacher here in Downey. And son Rob, who used to accompany Dan to Downey Rotary meetings at lunch time when he was little, now works in a copper mine in Battle Mountain, Nevada. There are four grandchildren, whom Debbie loves to babysit.
After moving back and forth in the continental United States, Debbie now lives and works inside a much smaller perimeter. “I have worked at the First Baptist Church of Downey since 1996,” Debbie says. “where I’ve been an Administrative Assistant to the Children’s and Youth Pastors, an Office Manager, and an Associate Worship Arts Director. Today it’s back to Assistant to the Senior Pastor and the Youth Pastor, as well as the Worship Arts Coordinator. They keep me busy from 8 am till 6 pm.”
“I’ve been supportive of Dan in all his many hats with Rotary,” Debbie says, “including the Presidency in 1995-96. And I am thrilled that Rotary has acknowledged the spouses of Rotary with this special classification. I love what Rotary stands for and I will do my utmost to carry on the ideals of Rotary in every aspect of my life.”