Deb Knickerbocker, Speech Therapist

It's a long way from Henderson, Nebraska, to Townshend, Vermont, particularly when one follows the circuitous route taken by Deb Knickerbocker, Grace Cottage's new speech therapist. Although she remained in Nebraska until she finished her undergraduate degree in social work at the University she then moved to Illinois (to earn her master's in speech pathology), and spent a year living in the Netherlands as part of a cultural exchange program.

"I didn't speak a word of Dutch when I went to work in an assisted living facility," Deb recalled. "Some of the residents spoke English, but none of the other staff members did, so we communicated by smiling and gesturing!"

Deb met her husband,"Bud" Knickerbocker (try saying that five times fast!), in graduate school, and the couple moved to Boise, Idaho, where Deb completed her clinical fellowship. This was followed by two years in Lansing, MI, where her husband attended graduate school in urban planning, then it was back to Idaho for two years.

"Bud applied for and got a job at the Windham Regional Commission in Brattleboro," said Deb, "and we decided to move to Vermont. Then I heard about the speech therapist opening at Grace Cottage, and it seemed like a natural fit."

It was Deb's own lisp that caused her to choose a career in speech therapy. "I used to hate saying '76' and '67'," Deb recalled. "Finally, when I was in high school, I worked with a speech therapist three times a week for about six weeks, and I was cured!"

When she's not working at Grace Cottage, Deb enjoys spending time with the couple's black-haired golden-eyed cat, Pasht, and dog, Shadow. Deb enjoys doing needlepoint and reading, particularly the works of Dorothy Canfield Fisher. She minces no words when it comes to her feelings about Vermont: "You don't have to look for the beauty here, and I think this is a place that people expect you to stay - that's certainly what we plan to do!