D E B R A    F R I E D E N

FUN & INTERESTING FACTS ABOUT DEBRA

1670 Her family history on American soil dates back 1670 to Reverend Benjamin Doggett, M.A. graduating from St. John’s College Cambridge graduating 1662 (England), and Rector of the St. Mary’s White Chapel Parish and of Christ Church Parish in Lancaster County PA 1670.  He was originally from Ipswich England.

1700’s Debra’s family descends from Colonial landowners and American Patriots who contributed to the Revolutionary War for independence from England.

1981 Debra receives a 35 Minolta camera,  and a journey to Egypt, including passage down the Nile for her high school graduation.  This was her first journey, as a young adult abroad, since her birth. She documented the journey at 17 years old, and still remains very close friends with four friends, all of the same age, from this trip, 27 years later.

1984 Debra meets Annie Leibovitz here in Atlanta, at  joint art show opening featuring photographers  Richard Scott Hill, and Annie Leibovitz at the Fay Gold Gallery.  Richard Scott Hill is Debra’s father. Annie Leibovitz autographs and stamps the her hand print into the book with good wishes on the birth of Debra’s new baby, Christopher. 

1985 Debra surprisingly meets Madonna, alone, with two of her massive body guards, at the Phoenix Athletic Club, (Ritz Carlton provider), prior to her “Like A Virgin Tour” concert. Madonna was very polite.

1989 Debra rides the tour bus with The Greg Allman Band to and from the concert hall, and sat backstage with her childhood (elementary years) & very best friend Sheila. Debra was eight months pregnant at the time with Thomas, her youngest son.  Steppenwolf was a no show front band, the audience was restless.

1991 At the age of twenty five years old, Debra (Mills) Frieden was elected to the Georgia House of Representatives as a State Representative, being the second youngest female member of the House in Georgia history.  She was sworn in at the age of twenty six. Referred to by GOP members as “The Prom Queen from Cobb County” and her Democratic colleagues as “The Democratic Darling”

2000 Debra met her husband Kevin, after choosing a  name randomly in AOL AIM’s Buddy List interests titled “computers,” to ask if he knew where to download some software for a printer. He replied, “Sure, hold on a minute.” He happened to work for IBM. They married 2 1/2 months later, and have been happily married since. “Bliss.”

2001 “The Debra Mills Commemorative Bridge.” The Georgia Legislature unanimously passes Resolution SR467 to name a bridge over Georgia’s Chattahoochee River, for Debra’s years of service(prior to, during and after being a public servant) on behalf of abused children, children in need and senior citizen advocacy & activism.   It is a very rare honor to have this bestowed upon a living person. Debra was not aware of this honor being bestowed until after it’s passage. Hence the fact that Legislative Council nor the Sponsors noticed her educational college of note, was not The Atlanta College of Art which she attended. This fact still remains uncorrected to this day.

Her father Richard S. Hill is in worldwide private and museum collections around the globe, a college Professor of Art, was tenured at the Atlanta College of Art (now SCAD).  Debra has apprenticed under him and then formally educated as a college student, under his tutelage. He is most recently best known for his “Kessler Campanile” for more detail click here an 80 foot steel sculpture located on the Georgia Tech Campus and a focal point during the Olympic Games. A documentary in the Georgia Tech “Living History of Richard Hill” is on file in their archives.

Father (Richard Scott Hill) and Debra, his daughter have long wanted to have a joint show together.

Debra’s great Uncle, United States Senator Hugh Doggett Scott was Minority Leader during the Nixon Administration.  He also has only one of three rooms in the US Capitol building named after public servants. There are three, The Mansfield Room,  The Kennedy Room and The Scott Room.  He is buried at Arlington Cemetary with his wife Marian. He would bring Debra small unique gifts from his travels to  other countries abroad. Although asked to be an Ambassador to China, he graciously declined to stay close to family. He loved Chinese art, and had authored several books one of which was called, The Golden Age of Chinese Art:  The Lively T’ang Dynasty. Ruland, VT: C.E. Tuttle Co. 1967