Her tiny face, that of a sweet little girl, has brought smiles to the faces of people viewing a memorable statue in a historic section of Evergreen Cemetery since the early 1900s.

But who was this Debbie, a so-beloved child forever immortalized in life-size Italian marble? And a child whose grave had an 8-year-old guardian angel.

Turns out she was a child of the South, born on a famous Louisiana plantation now on the National Register of Historic Places, where she died from measles in 1890 at only 8 years old. How did this become a Colorado Springs connection?

Deborah “Debbie” Tufts Ferrand was born into a French family of wealth and land who had purchased land in the Louisiana 1815 Spanish land grant where they built Synope (also known as Sinope) Plantation House, near Columbia and Monroe around 1857. Land grants were claimed by countries including Spain and Mexico and used for selective colonization during this country’s early years. The home, on 1,500 acres, was described as Greek Revival architecture with 5 acres of gardens and near the Ouachita River levee.

Synope was passed down the generations to Ferrand family members including Horace Ferrand and his wife, Annie, who had two children, Eugene (1880-1939) and Debbie (1882-1890).

Stories and accounts say Horace doted on his daughter and was crushed when she died. His favorite family photo shows an angelic girl in white lace holding flowers in a garden. This was the photo her father sent to an Italian sculptor to create a likeness out of Carrara marble to go atop her grave in Louisiana.

There are marble sculptures on the graves of some early Ferrand family members in Louisiana, but nothing as memorable as Debbie’s. She became a marble angel scattering flowers on her way to heaven.

In 1907 Horace, Annie and Eugene moved to Colorado Springs, with some family accounts suggesting it was because the area was reported to have important health benefits. Horace died two years later of a reported “stroke of apoplexy.” His final wish was that Debbie’s angel statue be brought to Colorado so they would be buried side by side. Later, her mother, Annie (1936), and Debbie’s brother Eugene (1939) were buried with them in the family site in Evergreen Cemetery.

The angel statue was vandalized but repaired.

Enter the 1970s and, according to “Here Lies Colorado Springs,” the historical book about Evergreen Cemetery, something very quietly special was happening at Debbie’s angel statue.

Myra, an 8-year-old who was visiting the cemetery with her parents, took a walk to see if perhaps there was a headstone somewhere with the name of another 8-year-old child. She discovered the statue and Angel Debbie had a new friend. Over the years and regular visits, Myra brought fresh flowers, decorations and little gifts to her grave.

According to the book, during her college years Myra did a little sleuthing and discovered a Ferrand family member in Denver who was delighted to learn who the mystery flower person was and to share more family history with her.

After her wedding, Myra brought flowers from her bouquet to share with Debbie. And the next generations of Myra’s family have shared flowers with Debbie too.