We are saddened to report the passing of longtime colleague Deb Wood.
After finishing bachelor’s and master’s degrees in history from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Deb went to work in 1981 for UNL’s Department of Agricultural Meteorology, starting as a project research assistant. When the National Drought Mitigation Center was founded in 1995, she went on to become one of the center’s first employees, contributing to a wide range of activities related to research, writing, editing, graphics, and publication design and production.
Drought Center colleagues appreciated Deb’s meticulous proofreading of hundreds of documents and products during her 29 years with the organization, ranging from book and journal manuscripts to U.S. Drought Monitor narratives. She worked on Drought Network News for its entire publication span, 1994-2001. Deb was the original author of The Dust Bowl, a perennially popular section of the center’s website, which has become a go-to resource for students across the nation. Most recently, the drought community may remember that she sent out Monday summaries of crowdsourced drought observations, wrote drought impacts summaries and managed the monthly Dry Horizons roundup of drought news and research.
As a colleague, Deb was well-informed and kind, with a dry wit, and dependably had a selection of chocolate for emergencies and other occasions. We like to think that wherever Deb is now, she is cozy and comfortable, reunited with the pets that she lavished love on over the years, and is enjoying chocolate and a good book, looking up once in a while to help others find the exact word or phrase they are looking for.
Memorial details are available here.