Memorial Service for Deborah Lynn Anderson Balak will be held at 2:30 pm Monday, May 20, 2024, at Christ Community Church in Ardmore, Oklahoma with Artie Farve officiating and assisted by family members.

Deborah Lynn Anderson Balak was born Friday June 16, 1967, in Syosset, New York to Carlton Edwin and Diane Louis (Sullivan) Anderson and died Saturday May 11, 2024, in Ardmore, Oklahoma at the age of 56 years, 10 months and 25 days.

Deborah grew up in Cold Spring Harbor, New York and graduated from Cold Spring Harbor High School with the Class of 1985. After graduating high school, she attended college at the University of North Carolina and Johnson and Wales College of Arts & Sciences and graduated with a Culinary Degree. She was a talented and passionate Chef. Deborah lived in Fernandina Beach, Florida for 20 years in her 20's and 30's and had a stunning career as a chef on Amelia Island at both The Ritz Carlton and The Inn at the Plantation. She was also the chef that catered the wedding of John Kennedy Jr and Caroline Basset in Jekyll Island Georgia.

Deborah is preceded in death by her brother, James Anderson; father, Carlton Anderson Sr.; maternal grandparents Frank Sullivan and Lila Sullivan. She is survived by her son, Matthew James "MJ" Balak; mother, Diane Anderson Barry and her husband Daniel of Huntington Bay, New York; sister, Diana Anderson Yeisley and her husband Jonathan of Simsbury, Connecticut; brother, Carlton Anderson of Greenwich, Connecticut; sister-in-law, Carolyn Anderson of  New York, New York; nephews and nieces, James and Charlotte Anderson of New York, New York, Carter and Sarah Yeisley of Simsbury, Connecticut, Tyler and Elizabeth Anderson of Greenwich, Connecticut; Aunt Donna Folkerts and her husband Bill and cousins Billy, Michelle and Andrea and their families.

Please consider donating to Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory's pancreatic cancer research center in Deborah's memory. Give at https://give.cshl.edu/ or call 516-867-8471 to donate. Checks can be mailed to: Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, One Bungtown Road, Cold Spring Harbor, New York 11724, ATTN: Development Office, Nichols Building.