Political activist Deborah “Deb” Chubb, 63, who died Tuesday of cancer, is being remembered as a vigorous champion of civil rights.
“I’ve probably known her for about nine years. She was a fabulous person, but she was also one of the fiercest fighters for women’s rights that I’ve even known,” Indivisible NWI President Kim Eldridge said.
“Anything going on with women’s rights and civil rights, she was a fountain of information,” she said. “She countless times did workshops for us or spoke for our events about women’s rights.”
Even during Chubb’s cancer journey, she would reach out to see how things were going, Eldridge said.
“She was just a fabulous person and a tireless person for civil rights,” she said.
“She was a role model, and she was a mentor,” Eldridge said. “I knew it was coming, but it doesn’t make it any easier.”
Indivisible NWI had an event planned for Thursday night in Michigan City. “We had thought about canceling the meeting, but she would have been the first to tell us, you’re crazy if you cancel it,” Eldridge said. A portion of the event will be dedicated to memorializing Chubb.
“She was a friend. It’s a huge loss to me. But she was also that person, like a sister in arms for me,” Eldridge said.
Julie Storbeck, president of Indiana NOW and Northwest Indiana NOW, met Chubb about a decade ago.
“Oh gosh, there’s so many” fond memories, Storbeck said amid tears.
She talked about when Northwest Indiana NOW and other activists protested U.S. Sen. Todd Young’s appearance at the Indiana Dunes State Park pavilion. “It was just a wonderful, fun evening we had.”
Protesters marching around the building got more attention than the people inside the event, Storbeck said.
“Around the corner comes Deb Chubb, who’s a very petite woman, and she’s carrying this American flag that’s bigger than she is,” Storbeck said. “Everyone’s coming behind her like a pied piper.”
When the wind caught the flag, Chubb started marching sideways. “The other people behind her started marching sideways,” Storbeck said, not realizing it was the wind blowing her off course.
“She really was a very funny person,” Storbeck said. “Some of my fondest memories with her was just sitting around laughing and joking.”
“Her jokes were never mean-spirited. They were never at anyone else’s expense. They never had a cutting edge to them,” Storbeck said.
Asked to share what personal impact Chubb had on her life, Storbeck responded, “Now I have to cry again.”
“She gave me courage, and she taught me to believe in myself no matter what anybody else said,” she said. “It’s tough out there. We get a lot of hate speech. We get a lot of threats. We get a lot of people calling us horrible names, doing terrible things. I’ve had my house broken into. I’ve had my car broken into.
“She would just say, they’re nothing. You’re everything.”
“She wouldn’t interact with them. She would not engage with them. She would just keep on moving and plow right through,” Storbeck said. “She really taught me to show that courage and to not doubt. It’s really easy to have all those negative scripts that run in your head.”
Chubb was one of the first people to be supportive when Storbeck’s daughter Hannah Trueblood ran for mayor of Valparaiso in the 2023 general election. “As a mom, that meant the world.”
Chubb was a former LaPorte County chair of the Democratic Party.
“I worked with her on the ‘25 Women for 2020’ campaign, where she had 25 women running for office in Northwest Indiana,” Storbeck said.
Chubb was no stranger to public office, including serving on the Michigan City school board.
She ran against state Sen. Rodney Pol in the primary election four years ago.
“I believed in her fiery spirit. She would have done a great job as well,” Pol said.
He knocked on Chubb’s campaign manager’s door Tuesday night while campaigning for reelection.
“It was probably right around the same time she was passing that I was sitting there talking to her campaign manager,” Pol said.
Chubb’s son Lucas died during that campaign, Pol recalled.
Coleman & Hicks Funeral Home in Michigan City is handling arrangements for Chubb, just as it did for Lucas. Her son Teddy survives.
“She was a force to be reckoned with for sure, and a force for good,” Pol said.
“She was a very inspirational figure.”
Former state Rep. Pat Boy was among dozens of people who visited Chubb during her illness to keep her company.
“She was an amazing woman. She stood up for the rights of anybody who was struggling,” Boy said. “She was kind, but she was tough. I loved her so much.”
“She was a great lady,” Porter County Democratic Party Chair Don Craft said. Chubb was “nice, smart, dedicated and did a lot for women in the state and women in the Democratic Party.”
RiseNWI founder and board Chair Sarah Ferraro said Chubb was a treasure.
“She’s a person who would help anyone with everything,” Ferraro said. “I wish I could learn more from her.”
“I’m trying to smile. What a loss for our area and just humanity. I think she was amazing,” she said.
“I just hope we can all continue doing what we’re doing and be inspired by the person she was,” Ferraro said.
When Ferraro was knocking on doors for Boy in LaPorte County, Chubb was the first person to join Ferraro, she said.
“Everyone who knew Deb knew she was a frontline fighter: for our youth, women, LGBTQIA+ justice, and our environment and climate,” Just Transition NWI Executive Director Ashley Williams said. “As our board president, she helped guide Just Transition Northwest Indiana with relentless courage, even through her own cancer journey. When the work felt impossible, without skipping a beat, Deb was in my corner saying, ‘You’ve got this, girl.’ She was the advocate we always needed.
“She rallied behind every worthy cause, spoke truth to power and never stopped believing that another region, another world, was possible. When we won the strongest protections on toxic coal ash waste in our nation’s history through the Environmental Protection Agency, Deb was there to celebrate and take us forward. Her mentorship and fierce belief in female, queer and minority representation in elected office and other leadership gave rise to countless community change makers. Deb made JTNWI what it is today, and she made me who I am today,” Williams said.
“The region lost a true trailblazer, but we will keep her flame alive. That’s the enormity of Deb’s impact and her legacy that will live on: to create good trouble and never waver in our commitment to justice.”
Storbeck visited Chubb at her home. “The last time I saw her, she was really excited that we were forming a Michigan City branch” of NOW, Storbeck said.
“I learned a lot about my civil rights from her,” she said.
Storbeck commended Chubb for her work with Imagination Station in Michigan City and turning it into Head Start, and making sure people were being fed, along with protecting LGBTQ people and immigrants. “She saw us all as just being in it together. I think that was the magic that was her.”
“We would not have a women’s caucus in the Indiana Democratic Party if it were not for Deb Chubb,” Storbeck said.
“She definitely devoted her life not just to the state but to the people of the state,” Storbeck said. “Everyone was welcome at her table even if she wasn’t welcome at theirs.”
Doug Ross is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.
