Deborah A. Montague (nee Gerhardt) died on Friday, October 25, 2024. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1954. She married young and gave birth to her son, Robert Montague, at age 21. She held many jobs in her early years, including at Western Union and a law firm. While working and raising a child, she attended University of Missouri St. Louis, studying philosophy/religion and earning straight A's. She had a beautiful singing voice and sang with the choir at St. Joseph's Cathedral in downtown St. Louis and The St. Louis Bach Society Choir. Naturally artistic at an early age, she excelled at drawing, painting, and sculpting. A gifted musician, she taught herself to play piano. She often played by ear, such as the bridge in the song "Layla." She could simply listen to a song and play it. No sheet music. She was an avid fan of all genres of music and collected and cherished more than 400 albums. She was just shy of graduating from college in her late 20s when mental illness began to take shape in her brain, later diagnosed as Schizophrenia. She suffered horribly for 40 years or more. There is no other way to say it. Her family suffered along with her. Unlike depression or anxiety, very little is understood about schizophrenia. No cause. No cure. Only a lifetime plagued with voices in her head, demons, hallucinations, and delusions. The anti-psychotic drugs available help quiet the voices, but never completely. Many, many doctors, nurses, caseworkers, psychiatrists, psychologists, police officers and family members tried to help over the years, and we are grateful for their efforts. We - all of us, including Debbie - did our best with what we were given. She lived a long time for someone suffering from this disease. They tend to die younger - often by suicide. She was a fighter and died of natural causes. She is preceded in death by her father, Ernest Charles Gerhardt, her mother, Margaret Bonnie Belli, both of St. Louis, and her sister Barbara Gerhardt Ward. She is survived by her son, Robert, siblings John, Pam, and Joe Gerhardt, cousin Jen Gerhardt, her aunt Verna, nephews Shane Ward and Joseph Porter, nieces Claudia Porter and Callie Gerhardt-Perry, great nephew Liam, and great nieces Lilly, Launa, Penelope, and Sophia. A funeral service will be held on Nov. 16, 9:30 am at Jay B. Smith Funeral Home, 7456 Manchester, Maplewood, MO 63143. 314-781-1115