COACH PROFILE
DEBORAH GAROUI A Storyteller’s Journey by Annie Reisener As a child, Deborah Garoui’s primary caretaker was a storyteller. Groups of local children would gather on her porch in the evenings and listen to her tell stories. Deborah grew up in Oklahoma. She was raised by a single mother and was the youngest of eight children, two of whom had special needs. When Deborah was five, her mother fell on hard times and arranged for her to live with a woman named Miss Bea. “I learned about overcoming adversity when I lived with Miss Bea,” Deborah says. “We lived in extreme poverty. She knew my background and that she’d be the only stability I had. She always made sure I was well-fed and in school. My mother dropped me off without shoes, and I remember I’d walk to school barefoot. Miss Bea saved up and bought me a pair of shoes.”
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Deborah also lived with Miss Bea when racial tensions were high. Miss Bea was a Black woman, and as Deborah remembers, she was one of few who owned land in her own name in Oklahoma at that time. That position led to hatred that Deborah remembers throughout her childhood. “I grew up hearing the woman I worshipped called names I could not fathom. One night, her mule was killed and the N-word was painted across his body in bright orange spray paint. I knew what the word meant, but I didn’t understand the full impact of it. People who did not know her threw cans at Miss Bea while we walked to the store, shouting it out the car windows as they passed.” Miss Bea taught Deborah to oppose any kind of injustice. As a Muslim of Choctaw and Italian descent, Deborah often got looks when she was with Miss Bea. Once, after a woman tried to yank Deborah away from
Deborah is a one-diamond coach from Brownfield High School in Texas.
Miss Bea in the street, Miss Bea said, “Whenever you see things that are wrong in this world, you pick up a stick and you beat it down. Girl, you keep your stick with you.” That lesson, among many others, stuck with her. Though Miss Bea passed away on Deborah’s thirteenth birthday, she has been the biggest influence on Deborah’s life. When she returned home, Deborah dropped out of school to help her
mother with her autistic brother and began to lose her way. She robbed a convenience store, and although she wasn’t caught, she scared herself. “I felt like I’d ruined my life,” Deborah says. With the encouragement of her stepdad, she got her GED and enrolled in junior college. Her creative writing professor discovered her talent for storytelling and signed her up for a talent show to do stand-up