1949 – 2016

AUBURN — Deborah Anne Clague, 66, of New Portland passed peacefully in the company of dear friends on Thursday evening, June 2, at the Hospice House in Auburn.

She was born Oct. 25, 1949, in Cleveland, Ohio, the fourth child and only daughter of James Gaskell Clague and Nora “Nona” Marion (Payne) Clague. She studied at Indiana University, l’Universite Paris-Sorbonne and, when her beautiful coloratura soprano voice had developed, later studied opera in San Diego. Her favorite role was Violetta in Verdi’s “La Traviata.”

Deborah moved to the United Kingdom in 1983 to further her singing career in London and in Europe. In 1985, while in negotiations to sing Violetta with a company in Kent (U.K.), she met their Rodolfo, (“La Boheme”), her future husband, opera singer Geoffrey Shovelton. They married in Kingsthorpe (Northampton) on Sept. 25, 1993. In November 2001, they returned to Maine to be close to her mother and step-dad, the late William Gardiner Young.

Deborah was always a gifted communicator, speaking and singing in a number of European languages. The gift was clear whenever she sang — whether in art song, folk song or opera. Her gifted hands created crossstitch pieces that spoke to places deep in the heart and removed pain through therapeutic massage. She was a licensed massage therapist who also taught “comfort touch” as a pain and stress-management technique.

She was a life learner who continued her education at the University of Maine in Orono, where she earned her master’s degree in social work and became a licensed clinical psychotherapist, working for Franklin Behavioral Services at Franklin Memorial Hospital. During an internship, as part of her master’s degree program, she taught “comfort touch” to the nursing staff at Androscoggin Home Care and Hospice, never realizing that the circle would one day be complete and that she would be the grateful recipient of the gift that she passed to the nursing care team, who continue to practice her teachings.

An outdoor person, she enjoyed long walks, cross-country skiing and snowshoeing, and regularly grabbing her binoculars to watch her beloved birds and the many splendors of God’s creation.

Deborah is loved by her soul mate and husband, Geoffrey R. Shovelton of New Portland; her dear mother, Nora “Nona” M. Young of New Portland; her step-daughter, Claire Shovelton of central London (U.K.); two step-sons, Dominic Shovelton and his wife, Clare, of Berkhamsted in the Chiltern Hills (U.K.) and their two children, Maximilian and Leonora, and Bruno Shovelton and his wife, Emily, of Oxford (U.K.) and their children, Jasper, Lydia, Daniel and Ivo; three brothers, Martin “Marty” Clague and his wife, Marilyn, of Rye, N.Y., Timothy “Tim” Clague and his wife, Sharon, of Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and Jonathan “Jon” Clague and his wife, Marci, of Kansas City, Mo.; several nieces and nephews; and many dear friends.

Tributes and condolences may be shared on her memorial wall at www.wilesrc.com, where a video tribute may also be viewed.