Finding her path

A second chance meant everything for Brigadier General Deborah Rose

Brigadier General Deborah Rose

Deborah Rose has been a trailblazer her entire career. When she retired from the United States Air Force in 2011 after more than 28 years of service, she had been the highest-ranking female in the Kansas National Guard for nearly a decade and the first ever to reach the rank of brigadier general. But before she could blaze trails, General Rose had to find her path.

Originally from a family farm in Overbrook, Kansas, neither of her parents had a high school diploma. Despite that, her mother insisted her children go to college. So Deborah went to McPherson College – but she didn’t stay long.

“It was not what I wanted at that time, so I just went and partied,” she stated bluntly. “I think that first year I maybe got a D or two, but otherwise all Fs. I was not welcomed back.” Which was fine with her. She married an airman stationed at Forbes Air Force Base, had two children, and was content to be a stay-at-home mom.

But in 1977, a tragedy hit close to home. Two national guard airmen out of Forbes Field were killed when their EB-57 went down. One of them was her age, from her hometown, and he left behind a struggling wife and young daughter. The incident ignited something in Deborah. She decided she wanted to always be able to take care of herself and her children…to have skills, an independent career. Which meant she needed an education.

“I don’t know why Washburn accepted me,” Deborah recalled. She was a 27-year-old mother of two with something like a 0.002 GPA. “But they welcomed me completely.” Her mother helped watch the kids so Deborah could go to classes. Her husband was 100% behind her. And Washburn professors and advisers cheered her on. “Nobody ever for a moment implied I should doubt myself or would do anything other than succeed.”

And succeed she did. She graduated in 1982 with a nursing degree and took a job at the Topeka VA Medical Center. She received a direct commission in the national guard a year later, before later being handpicked to take a command position full time. She commanded a squadron, then a group, then was Vice Wing Command, then Director of the Joint Staff. The rest is Kansas National Guard history.

But Deborah’s Washburn history continues to be written. She was invited to speak at a Washburn Women’s Alliance (WWA) event several years ago, meeting other nontraditional students with children, and was blown away.

“I love seeing women who, when given a chance, succeed,” she said.

She got more involved, first with the WWA and eventually also with Washburn Women’s Venture Partners as well as serving on the board of trustees of the Washburn Foundation. She and her siblings created The Irene Moeller WWA Scholarship Fund in honor of their mother, who had always pushed them to get their educations, whose help had allowed Deborah to get hers and who, herself, had gone back to get her GED at the age of 66. And she and her husband, Joe, recently worked with the foundation to update their estate plan, establishing a living trust with Washburn as a beneficiary, specifically so it can continue giving second chances to students like her.

“When you go to a place like the School of Nursing, or Washburn Tech, or WWA luncheons, you feel the hope and promise of education. I experienced that personally. Washburn helped me become my best self, and now it’s my time to pay it forward. My estate will do that, and I could not be prouder,” she said.

“Sometimes it takes people longer to find their paths. But when they’re ready, Washburn is there.”

Like Deborah, you, too, can make an estate gift that will create opportunities and inspire future generations of Washburn students. Contact Erin Aldridge at 785.670.4483 or PlannedGiving@wualumni.org to learn more.