DeBold was born in Brooklyn, New York. Her family moved to
Rockville, Maryland, where she graduated from R.E. Peary High School in 1973. She attended
Flagler College in
St. Augustine, Florida, where she met her life partner, Barbara Johnson (who went on to become an author with
Naiad Press and
Bella Books). She transferred to the
University of Maryland, where she received a B.S. in Agriculture and Life Sciences in 1977, after which she worked for the
Entomological Society of America. She became Maryland's first female
apiary inspector in 1978. She wrote about her experience for the journal
Bee World in 1996. After two stints in the Peace Corps, she remained in the CAR working with
Africare, a DC-based non-profit that addresses food security and agriculture, health and HIV/AIDS, water and sanitation, and emergency and humanitarian aid in Africa. She was with her longtime companion, Barbara, for 48 years before her death. They were legally married in Maryland in 2013.They lived in
Burtonsville, Maryland. ==References==