Deborah J. Bodeau, known to her friends as Deb, died unexpectedly in her bed either late on Dec. 5, 2024 or early on Dec. 6, 2024. For several days, she had suffered what seemed to be minor disease symptoms and had not sought medical attention.

Deb lived with her husband Doug Muder at 69A South Rd. for the last four years. They moved to Bedford in 2018 and resided in the area for more than 40 years.

She made her biggest impacts on two local institutions: MITRE and the First Parish Church. She joined MITRE in 1984 and became a specialist in the developing fields of computer security, privacy, and resiliency, rising to the level of Senior Principal Cybersecurity Engineer.

She officially retired in 2016, but continued to work part-time on specific projects until shortly before her death.

Deb and her husband began attending First Parish in 1994. She taught adult education courses and served on numerous committees, including several terms on the church's governing board. She was Board President in 2010.

She loved to work with beads and liked to joke that her room resembled a bead store. Many of her necklaces and other beadwork projects were of professional quality, but she had no interest in selling them, preferring to give gifts to friends and offering a collection of necklaces to First Parish's annual auction.

Her lifelong interest in the Tarot accelerated during the Covid lockdown, resulting in a collection that includes hundreds of decks of all descriptions, ranging from profound to absurd revisioning of the traditional images. She frequently supported Kickstarter projects of artists wanting to create new decks, and saw this as a way a person with limited wall space could promote new art.

She enjoyed travel, including both foreign travel and long road trips inside the United States. She hiked the Milford Track and Tongariro Crossing in New Zealand, Thorsmork in Iceland, Haleakala Caldera in Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, and many lesser known trails.

Deb was born in Oak Park, IL on Oct. 2, 1953. She graduated from Mundelein College in Chicago (now part of Loyola University) in 1975. She received a master's degree in mathematics from the University of Chicago in 1976, and continued graduate studies there until 1984.

While at Chicago, she met Doug, who was also a mathematics graduate student. They married on March 18, 1984, and later that year moved to Massachusetts to start jobs at MITRE. Although they decided not to have their own children, Deb and Doug took great pleasure in their friends' children, and have stayed involved with several of them into adulthood.

Since 1996, she survived three independent cancers: breast, endometrial, and a gastrointestinal stromal tumor. Many friends took inspiration from her courage in the face of life-threatening illness. Newly diagnosed acquaintances often came to her for advice and insight. All three cancers were undetectable at her most recent check-ups.

She is survived by her husband, many good friends, and her sister Melissa Bodeau of Arlington, VA.

A service to celebrate her life will be held at 2 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 18 at the First Parish Church, 75 The Great Road, Bedford. All are welcome.