Many assorted and colorful careers stand out on Debbie Lincoln’s résumé. From insurance proofreader to cow inseminator, from graphic artist to real estate saleswoman to small business owner — her life has taken any number of interesting turns, many of which were directed by her love of God, family, art and nature.
Born in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1952, Debbie quickly cultivated an affection for, and appreciation of, both the outdoors and the diverse cuisine of her Cajun cousins. Her maternal grandmother was an artist and a teacher, and Debbie cannot remember a time when the woman wasn’t drawing and painting. Debbie’s mother, an artist in the kitchen, also fostered her love of fine culinary skills, with crawfish étouffée being a specialty. A cultural combination of Louisiana and Texas now spice her life, but her roots lie deep in Cajun land and its multifaceted history.
Texas became home when she was 10 years old, and the opportunity to learn about ranching and horses was almost too exciting for a young girl to imagine. Every time a horse was available to ride, Debbie rode it. But it wasn’t until after she married her college sweetheart, Mike, that she got the opportunity to finally fulfill her fantasies of owning cows and horses. After nearly seven years of married life, taking them from Illinois to Cairo, Egypt to Sachse, Texas, the Lincolns moved to Erath County, Texas — Stephenville, to be exact. There they bought a 50 acre place in the country, purchased a small herd of cattle and a horse, and started their family.
The desire to stay home with two growing children led Debbie to start a home-based graphic arts business in 1985. The hardware all came together in the Lincoln’s family room-turned-office. Between raising much of their own food, caring for the farm animals and raising two lively children, Debbie typeset, designed logos and did freelance commercial art for the next decade.
When the children reached their teen years in the mid-90s, husband Mike felt the desire to own his own business, and talked Debbie into taking a leap of faith, selling their home and using the proceeds to build a fast lube in Weatherford, Texas. The biggest hitch to that plan was that Debbie would have to run the business until Mike could get a few more years under his belt in his corporate job.
Finding other “homes” for her graphics clients, Debbie agreed to manage the fast lube, setting her artsy urges temporarily on the back burner. Farm animals went to leased acreage, horses went to rented stalls, and everyone else went to live in a tiny house in town while the business found its feet. After two years of building, the fast lube proved to be a very wise choice, and Debbie and Mike built a new home on another 50 acres between Stephenville and Weatherford in the community of Morgan Mill. There they also experienced a spiritual reawakening with the help of a devoted pastor and loving church family, making a new commitment to Jesus and a pledge to share all the blessings that God had generously heaped upon them. Debbie and Mike quickly discovered that the more they gave, the more came their way.
Both kids are now through (or nearly through) college, and horses and cats and dogs and some new cows have been united for the past 10 years in their new farm home. Mike retired from his corporate job in 2001 and joined Debbie in the business, finally giving her time to paint again. Somewhere along the way, Debbie acquired her real estate license, thinking that another career choice just might come in handy some day! Schooled initially by her maternal grandmother, Ivy Oliver, Debbie’s artistic urges were active all through grade school, and she continued her art education at Texas Tech University and Highland College in Illinois. As a First Place and Best of Show winner in the acclaimed B’nai Brith Invitational art show in 1978, she was invited back the following year to be the featured artist, with one of her paintings used as a promotional poster for the event that year.
Her favorite medium is oil, but watercolor and pencil are also ways she expresses her love of the beauty God has brought into her life, with her favorite subjects being her family and friends, as well as southwest landscapes, wildlife, and equine events. A member of several Art Associations, she has won recognition in them all, and currently uses her paintings in her advertisements for her Kwik Kar fast lube business.