By SANDRA THAMES / Community Columnist

With a father in the Marine Corp, Debra Taylor Walton’s family traveled quite a bit.  Walton was born in Miami Beach, Fla. and spent numerous summers hiking, camping and boating around Niagara Falls and Huntsville, Ala.

Another favorite destination was her grandparent’s home near Hernando, Fla., where she rode motorcycles with her grandfather and crafted with her grandmother.

In 1980 Walton graduated from Havelock High School in Havelock, N.C., then attended and graduated from East Carolina University in 1983 where she specialized in middle school math, science and language arts.

For the past 28 years, Walton has been a teacher at Thompson Middle School and is currently an eighth grade math teacher.

“When I was in the eighth grade the sudden death of my father rocked my world.  Teachers and friends took the extra time to help me with the loss of my father and my struggles in pre-algebra. Today I enjoy helping students through some of the ‘math anxiety’ that I experienced. It really makes my day for a parent to tell me they appreciate my help or for a former student to tell me I successfully prepared them for high school,” says Walton.

Tutoring, playing Canasta (she says she is quite competitive) and seeing new places are all fun for Walton.

This past summer she covered 6,000 miles and 14 states with friends and family.  Pikes Peak is one of the most beautiful places she has visited.

Walton says, “A teacher’s calendar does help with my passion for traveling.”

On her “bucket list” is an Alaskan cruise or a trip to New England in the fall.

Husband Tim Walton is employed by Dominos Pizza and son Jordan, age 21, will graduate from UAB in 2016 (in accounting).

Daughter Taylor, age 24, is a respiratory therapist at UAB.

“I tutor math before and after school,” says Walton. “I would like for every student to realize that they can do the math. For some it just might take a little longer or a different method to make sense to them.”