Debbi Walling

photo by Bryan Harrison, Harrison Promotional Services

Before you even see her, Debbi Walling’s contagious laugh can be heard as she enters a room. After all, Debbi has learned that life can be fleeting and is not to be taken too seriously.

Strong and seemingly equipped to handle almost anything, Debbi’s everyday world was permanently altered when she lost her mother last year to breast cancer.

Debbi identified her mother as the person who inspired her the most in life. “We were the best of friends,” remembers Debbi fondly. Even as her cancer progressed and her mother was in a lot of pain, Debbi can still recall watching her awake in the morning, look out the window and talk of what a gift the day was. “My mom taught me to take life as it comes,” says Debbi! And take life as it comes, she has.

Following her graduation from the University of New York at Buffalo, where she obtained a degree in Sociology, Debbi and her best friend decided to take a road trip to California for an adventure. After a memorable summer in the southern end of the state, Debbi returned home via a very long Greyhound Bus ride with her sights set on relocating to the west coast as soon as possible.

It must have been in the cards that Debbi would someday be working in insurance, although this certainly wasn’t how Debbi planned it. Ironically, Debbi’s father retired from Nationwide, where he worked as an agent for over twenty years, and where Debbi works today. Debbi is a Claims Manager with Allied/Nationwide.

Once transplanted permanently in California, Debbi landed a job with Prudential as a Telephone Adjuster. When the office announced its impending closure, Debbi found work with Industrial Indemnity, however, it was outside of the claims realm altogether; Debbi spent her time writing technical manuals for the company. “I got bored really fast,” she says, laughing. Her boredom drove her to a position as a Property Adjuster at Fremont Indemnity, where she learned the ropes as she went along.
When Debbi grew restless on the corporate side of the business, she tried her hand at independent adjusting and worked for AIMS for many years; both full time and part time during the birth of her two daughters.

“My AIMS days were long before cell phones and GPS systems,” Debbi exclaims. “We had Thomas Guide Map Books and pagers in the field.” Tough times, no doubt, but Debbi weathered them well and made a name for herself in this industry with her ‘no-nonsense’ approach to things, and her intelligence, which enabled her to pick things up quickly.

Debbi has undertaken many home improvement tasks in the house she shares with her husband, children, and pet Maltese. She even put in her own tile floor, although after having done so, she wincingly says, “I would never do it again. It’s much better to buy a place with flooring and counters the way you want them.”

Tenacity and a willingness to learn new things have obviously contributed to the person Debbi is today; strong, but sensitive, and very inquisitive; the perfect combination for someone in the insurance claims business. Debbi’s openness to change prompted her to volunteer for CAT duty in Florida after Hurricane Charlie.

“I found the experience invaluable,” she says. “I made friends with other adjusters while we were all working under stressful circumstances, and we have a kinship now. I still keep in touch with many of the people I met,” she proudly states.

When Debbi was promoted to manager at Allied/Nationwide last year, she embraced the position. “I really do like change,” she says. “I enjoy seeing people develop and feel a genuine sense of pride when I see progress in others.” I caught a sparkle in Debbi’s eye when she said this, and her enthusiasm was penetrative.

What does someone with a full-time manager’s position, two daughters; (one in college, one in high school) and a husband of 24 years do in her spare time? Believe it or not, Debbi is a testament to her “Embrace Life” philosophy. She is a world traveler and has been to Alaska, Paris and Costa Rica. She has been on three cruises and most often traveled with her mom and sisters in the past. “This year will be a bit different,” she says thoughtfully. She will be going to Italy with her girlfriends in March. Though her favorite travel companion won’t be accompanying her this time, Debbi thinks her mother would want her to continue with her explorations. “There are always more adventures to be had wherever you go,” laughs Debbi.

What’s one of her favorite adventures? “One of the funniest memories I have of my travels is from a trip with my mom and the rest of my family.” She continues, “We were in France one year and decided to rent a canal boat for a week. Navigating was not the easiest thing to do, so of course, I volunteered,” she chuckles. “At one point, we were approaching these narrow locks, and it was very difficult to get through them. No one spoke English around us, so I just had to ‘wing it’ as best I could.” She goes on, giggling as she talks, “Somehow, in front of an entire crowd of people, I ended up hitting the lock with the boat, and this knocked our poor non-English speaking boat guide into the water! My family laughed for hours, especially when another family who’d been paralleling us for most of our trip in a boat of their own commented that we were the crazy ‘yanks’ who didn’t know how to drive”

Would she brave the waters again? I ask, and she replies, “Of course,” laughing out loud as she leaves the room in the same manner in which she entered; full of life and enjoying every second. I think she’d make her mama proud.

Openness to change prompted her to volunteer for CAT duty in Florida after Hurricane Charlie.
“I found the experience invaluable,” she says. “I made friends with other adjusters while we were all working under stressful circumstances, and we have a kinship now. I still keep in touch with many of the people I met,” she proudly states.

Debbi Walling can be reached at wallind@nationwide.com.