On 16 November, Debbie Fuentes passed away. A Registrar for the Arabian Horse Association, Debbie was known the world over for her smiling face, her infectious laugh, for taking photographs of everyone – and making them feel special – and her love for her husband and children. With her funeral taking place today, it seems fitting to share these tributes from around the world as published in the latest edition of The Arabian Breeders’ Magazine. Rest peacefully, Debbie; you will be so missed.
You can donate to Debbie’s GoFundMe page here.
Our brightest star returns to the heavens
Preface
Words by Lisa Abraham
On Saturday 16 November, Debbie Fuentes passed away after a long, courageous battle with cancer. She had enjoyed a prominent international presence as the Registrar for the Arabian Horse Association, a career that spanned forty years. Debbie was esteemed for her professional ethics and encyclopaedic knowledge of all matters concerning equine registration. But more importantly, she was also a woman of great vitality with a bubbly effervescence and a special talent for touching hearts.
Immediately after her passing, Samantha asked me to write a tribute article. However, my long-term friendship with Debbie had become familial and my heartbreak was too fresh for an in-depth piece. Therefore, I suggested we work together so that her friends and colleagues could share their feelings.
However, I was grateful for Samantha’s invitation to write, as I had a personal reason to participate in this specific collaboration. I am unsure when I first met Debbie, but I can recall our earliest conversations. In the 2010s, Debbie attended the British National Championships in Malvern. It was at this show that she met the Mattocks family.
Soon after, as our acquaintance grew into friendship, Debbie spoke of her admiration for Samantha as a professional and how sincerely she enjoyed her time with Tina, Samantha’s mother. She left that show with genuine friendships that she treasured for the rest of her life. With all my heart, I know Debbie would be honoured by these tribute pages in Samantha’s 20th anniversary issue and the one prepared for Paris, one of her favourite shows in the world.
Tributes
It was with great sorrow that all of us in the WAHO family learned that our long-time friend and colleague, Debbie Fuentes, passed away recently, after a long illness which she faced with outstanding courage.
Familiar to us from her attendance as USA’s delegate to so many of the WAHO Conferences over the years, Debbie was respected not only for her professionalism and decades-long dedication to the Arabian Horse Association, but also for her invaluable assistance to many other Registrars around the world. She was renowned for her bubbly and warm personality and, above all, for her ever-present smile. She was appreciated and loved by her many friends all over the world who have been truly saddened by this news. Debbie will be so very greatly missed. We extend our most sincere condolences to her colleagues at AHA and to her family for their great loss.
We share this short poem (author unknown) in honour of such a special and unforgettable lady. May she rest in peace.
“She has achieved success who has lived well, laughed often and loved much;
who has filled her special niche and accomplished her task;
who has left the world better than she found it;
who has always looked for the best in others and given the best she had.
Whose life was an inspiration;
Whose memory is a benediction.”
World Arabian Horse Organization
If there was ever a person that was the embodiment of the word ebullient, it was our Debbie. Always smiling, always cheerful even during her darkest days. So full of enthusiasm and cheer, she made us wonder why we grumbled about anything at all.
I had the pleasure of making her acquaintance at WAHO 2009 in Muscat, Oman. I was quite under the weather throughout that conference, but was greatly cheered by all my friends there. Debbie was one of the new ones. I can hardly believe it’s just been just fifteen years. It feels like we’ve known each other a lifetime.
Our close friendship developed over future WAHO Conferences. My wife, Navaz, met her in Qatar 2011 and they immediately hit it off. I was hardly surprised. Unfortunately, Debbie first fell ill before our conference in Bahrain in 2017, but from first telling me that she wouldn’t make it, she did come and was as bubbly as ever, though still fighting her dreaded ill. Australia 2019 and Jordan 2023 were just one big party with her and our WAHO family. UAE, WAHO Abu Dhabi 2025, will be much the poorer without her taking photographs of every single one of the delegates and guests in her signature style. I would usually take her picture for her.
Apart from all the fun and enjoyment we shared, Debbie was always prepared and ready with her homework at all the conferences and fully focused on the business at hand. We bounced ideas and opinions off each other on subjects other than the horses as well. We were nearly always in sync and even when we weren’t, she had an open enough mind to listen to a differing view.
We met two of Debbie’s lovely children, Shannon in Qatar and Ryan who accompanied her to Bahrain. May they and the rest of her family remember her as fondly as we do and stay as positive and smiling as she would do in the face of such adversity.
Debbie, may you continue spreading your special kind of stardust on all our lives till we meet again. We miss you more than one can imagine.
Jehangir Rustomjee, Bahrain Registrar
We all lose friends in death. But even though they may be lost, hope is not. The key is to keep them in your heart. I met Debbie in 2009 at the WAHO Conference in Oman and have been close ever since. She was a dear friend and a remarkable colleague, my sincere condolences to her children and family.
Abdulla Albraihi, Kuwait Registrar
Debbie with her family and friends receiving the Lifetime Achievement Award
John Quincy Adams stated that if your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader. Debbie quintessentially defined leadership. Her keen intellect and sincerity, her innate ability to make you feel like you were the most important person in the room, that beautiful, engaging smile, and her genuine passion and tireless efforts for the betterment of the Arabian horse worldwide were remarkable trademarks of Debbie Fuentes. She was that positive, irreplaceable face of the Arabian industry on a global stage. We are all better people for having known and been inspired by her. A leader and an icon come along very seldom in a lifetime; Debbie’s legacy will be the shining example of both.
Anna Bishop, Former Executive Director of The Pyramid Society, USA
I have known Debbie for many years through her position as the Registrar of the Arabian Horse Association and other activities. In all her responsibilities, she was always gracious and knowledgeable. Those of us who knew her will miss her cooperative professional assistance and the pleasure of her friendship throughout the years. One hopes to leave this life having left with friends and a good name. May she rest in peace knowing she has done just that!
Judith Forbis, Ansata Arabian Stud, USA
My dear Debbie,
I knew our time would eventually end with the heartbreaking task of writing this tribute. There are no words that can even come close to expressing my feelings and gratitude for your presence in my life. I will remember our adventures with warmth in my heart, and our misadventures, which were many, with laughter. Our personalities could not have been more different, as were our approaches to life’s challenges, but we met in the middle and I, for one, am better for it. No matter where we were in the world, you were always looking to add to your collection of angels – now you fly with them. My deepest condolences to your family, whom you loved so completely and unconditionally.
With love, forever and always,
Lisa Abraham, USA
When you hear the name Debbie Fuentes, what comes to my mind is her smile, her thoughtfulness – and her camera! Debbie lived her life fully, and I was fortunate to call her a friend. Through the years, she taught me so much about areas of the business that I didn’t know as her knowledge of the Arabian horse and their owners was unparalleled. Also, she truly loved her people, and it showed. To say Debbie will be missed is an understatement. I will miss her knowledge, her joy and, most of all, her friendship. To honour Debbie, let us all endeavour to move through our lives with Joy and Thankfulness as she did.
Nancy Harvey, Arabian Horse Association President 2017 – 2020, USA
We were very fortunate to have had a dear and sincere friend in Debbie Fuentes. At shows or meetings around the world, Debbie’s presence was always a great joy for us. Her lovely smile and kindness created immediate warmth, and we enjoyed a perfect understanding. Debbie was one of those rare individuals who we liked and trusted without reservation. We will pray for her family.
Rest in Peace Debbie, we will miss you.
Nawal and Hans Nagel, Katharinenhof Stud, Germany
Debbie was not only the most professional person I have ever known, but she was also the sweetest. The first time we met, I found her to look quite strict, even intimidating, with her glasses and serious expressions. But as soon as we started speaking, her kind nature came through and I felt like I was with someone I had known my entire life. Debbie was the kind of person I could talk to about anything, both professionally and personally. She was empathetic and knowledgeable, and conversations could go on endlessly. I will keep Debbie in my heart and wish there were more people like her in this world. We will all miss her presence at Arabian horse events around the world and I would like to send my deepest condolences to her family, who I’m sure is struggling with her loss.
Jaroslav Lacina, President of ECAHO, Czech Republic
Some people have a piece of your heart from the moment you meet, and Debbie was one of those special ones. With her warm heart and lovely personality, she was loved by everyone she met. She was always so genuine and loving.
I met Debbie for the first time in Santa Ynez and we instantly bonded and since then I have been blessed with a lot of wonderful memories together from trips all over the world. But my favourite trips with Debbie were always to the World Championships in Paris where we had so much fun with our group during sightseeing, eating a lot of bread and cheese together with delicious red wine, and shopping gifts and postcards for friends and family. And always a lot of laughter. Paris will never be the same without Debbie, and the world will never be the same without her. I will miss her forever. Thank you, Debbie, for all the wonderful memories, for lighting up every room with your wonderful smile and for being you. My thoughts are with her family in this hard time.
Anette Mattsson, Sweden
Our world has lost one of the brightest lights it has ever known with the passing of Debbie Fuentes. A true friend to so many all around the world, Debbie dedicated her entire professional life in service to the Arabian horse and the people who love and steward the breed.
For more than forty years, Debbie worked in Registry and Member Services for the Arabian Horse Association (AHA) in the United States, taking her first job right out of college with the Arabian Horse Registry (AHR). Eventually appointed registrar for what was then the largest Arabian horse registry in the world, Debbie was a steady voice of reason and guidance through many of the most challenging times in our industry. For nearly four decades, Debbie’s brilliant smile and effusive positivity made every World Arabian Horse Organisation (WAHO) conference infinitely more enjoyable and more rewarding. She brought the same enthusiasm and effervescence to shows and events she attended regularly around the world, serving as the ultimate ambassador for the Arabian horse and an incomparable representative for AHA abroad. Debbie also served the greater animal industry at large on the executive board of the National Pedigreed Livestock Council (NPLC), including an extended term as President.
Debbie loved to take photographs and had the uncanny ability to elicit a smile from, and bring out the best in, everyone. Her photographic record of people, places and events around the world serve as a poignant reminder of the innumerable lives she has touched and changed for the better, and the indelible legacy of joy, connection and optimism she leaves behind.
The only strangers in Debbie’s life were those people she had not yet met. With no inhibition whatsoever, Debbie would engage anyone and everyone at every event she attended, introducing herself as an employee of AHA, but disguising from no one her true role as ambassador extraordinaire for the breed. Always curious about and genuinely interested in other people, Debbie had a transformative way of making you feel seen and heard, as if no one else mattered in her world in that moment but you. That twinkle in her eye, and her radiant reassuring smile, were enough to put your mind and soul at ease in her presence. If hope and optimism could be perfectly expressed in human form, Debbie Fuentes would irrefutably be their eternal spokes model.
Always one to think of others, Debbie was also untiringly busy coordinating cards for those who were enduring tough times, including many of our friends and colleagues who were battling serious illness and loss. Even as Debbie was suffering with her own health struggles for the past several years, she never failed to find the time to lift others up and to rally others to her cause. Those who were the recipients of Debbie’s extraordinary kindness and thoughtfulness, and the messages of hope and connection she was always able to elicit from others, will never forget her selfless compassion and consideration.
I have so many wonderful memories shared with Debbie all over the world, many in large groups of companions and colleagues, several in the company of just a handful of our closest friends, and a precious few with just the two of us, sharing the most personal and intimate details of our lives. With the exception of those treasured one-on-one moments with Debbie, the overwhelming majority of my memories are filled with copious amounts of laughter, high spirits and fantastical stories, often accompanied by liberal helpings of wine, bread and a massive spread of cheese.
With the World Championships just around the corner, I am reminded of a Sunday night in Paris more than a decade ago, when we stumbled upon one of the few places open on the worst dining night of the week in Central Paris. Just off Rue de Rivoli, our hungry and rather boisterous group stumbled into an Italian-themed restaurant, complete with a spacious community table, perfectly suitable for our large gaggle of cold and weary horse show attendees. Once the wine, bread and cheese arrived, the mood transformed from subdued to clamorous, with Debbie seated centre stage and holding court, driving the energy levels of frivolity higher and higher. So much bread and cheese were consumed within the first half hour that our group cleaned out the restaurant’s supply, spurring the proprietors to generously produce more baguettes and soft cheese from their own private stash they intended to take home! I can still hear Debbie fervently requesting “More bread, please!” and urging everyone to “try the brebis!”, the most delicious sheep’s cheese imaginable. My cheeks, my face, my sides and my gut still tingle with the most pleasant of aches when I recall that evening in Debbie’s incomparable company. She left everyone feeling SO extraordinarily alive in those precious few hours as only she could, an integral part of something special and worthwhile.
In so many ways, Debbie was the glue that held our community together, the common touchstone of kindness, goodness, decency, and generosity. Her indefatigable zest for life and seemingly endless positive energy were infectious. Debbie had an effortless way of lighting up every room she entered and of leaving everyone with whom she interacted feeling a bit better about the world, and themselves, in the process. Like a ray of incandescent sunshine, she illuminated a brighter path forward for our breed and our global community in a style that was truly, and uniquely, her very own.
We are all better humans to have known Debbie Fuentes and to have shared this all too brief span of life in her presence. Thank you, Debbie, for giving of yourself and your abundant gifts without reservation to enrich the lives of everyone around you with more hope, more love, more connection and more fulfilment. In your extraordinary life, so passionately and altruistically lived, may we all find the inspiration to serve as graciously, as selflessly and as wholeheartedly as you.
I intend to revisit that Italian restaurant in Paris in a few weeks’ time and drink a toast to you, dear Debbie, and to eat more bread and cheese than I sensibly should. If I have learned anything in this life from your example, it is to live each and every day fully alive, in the service of others, with not a single regret in the fleeting time we are given amid the company of those we love and cherish.
Scott Benjamin, Australia and USA
It is so hard to know what to write. Debbie was a good friend to all who knew her, and her tireless passion and energy lifted everyone. Debbie and I would always make sure we spent time at the shows and conferences, and we would often bring her some of the local cheeses she loved so much. When my daughter, Samantha, was away, Debbie would often send me a photograph of her, just to let me know she had seen her and that she was okay. It is that thoughtfulness that made Debbie the person she was. Quite simply, she was a joy to be with.
I know I speak for all of us in our family when I say it will be hard to be in Paris and at the next WAHO without seeing her there. I know I will be looking for her. Sending all our love to George and Debbie’s children. She loved them all so much.
Tina Mattocks, UK
