That question of accessibility first took shape when Deb arrived at Harley as a Grade 9 student, after she previously attended public schools in Charlotte, North Carolina, Orlando, Florida, and a Boston suburb. She immediately saw the difference between public school and independent school.

At Harley, she found teachers who were able to know their students deeply, adapted to different learning styles, and taught the “whole person.” Volunteering alongside Harley’s master preschool teacher, Ethol Wadsworth, only sharpened Deb’s awareness. From pre-school through Upper School, Harley offered an exceptional educational experience, one that she knew wasn’t universally available.

“I remember wondering why these great teachers and resources were limited to students who attended Harley,” Deb recalls. “Why couldn’t these exemplary teachers and approach to learning be accessible to everyone?”

That curiosity became a calling. Deb went on to earn a BA in Sociology and Education from St. Lawrence University and a master’s degree in Development, Learning, & Instruction from the University of Rochester’s Warner School of Education. Along the way, she saw firsthand how early learning environments—particularly in under-resourced communities—often lacked basic play materials.

A library—but for toys

The idea for the Rochester Toy Library emerged from both professional insight and personal experience. After leaving her teaching role in Harley’s Middle School in the early 1980’s, Deb was tutoring and raising two young children with her husband, Peter Willsea ’72. She realized that her second child’s play and interest in toys that she had thoughtfully purchased—and that had delighted their first child—didn’t resonate at all with their second. Deb began wondering about how a central community resource for families could enable families to share toys, instead of purchasing them, and have access to educator guidance.

When she was with a colleague who had just had her first child she said, ‘What we need is a Rochester Toy Library.” The very next day, that friend purchased the April 1983 Parent’s magazine and discovered it had a 5-page article on how to start a Toy Library featuring different models from across the county.

As a member of the Junior League of Rochester, a local volunteer organization, and its education and welfare committee, Deb dove into research, calling toy libraries across the country to learn more about each model. The Junior League enlisted the United Way to conduct a community needs assessment that validated the need for childcare providers to have access to toys and books to help improve the quality of childcare. In 1985, with funding and a dedicated group of volunteers from the Junior League as well as funding from Rochester Area Community Foundation and others, the Rochester Toy Library opened its first storefront.

The library moved locations as it followed community need, eventually expanding into a space that included a dedicated playroom designed to feel welcoming, imaginative, and grounded in the neighborhood it served. A local artist and Rochester Institute of Technology graduate created inviting murals on the playroom walls depicting familiar landmarks—the farmers market, firehouse, town hall, art gallery, and the zoo.

Beyond lending toys, the Toy Library play space became a hub for early childhood education. Deb led the outreach initiatives to childcare centers and Rochester City School District kindergartens and recruited volunteers to visit classrooms regularly with a themed set of toys and books and materials for projects to do together. Volunteers adopted classes for several years, building long-term relationships with teachers and childcare staff, building trust, and improving the quality of learning experiences for the children.

Deb also initiated a collaborative training program for in-home childcare providers, including workshops, mentorship opportunities, and curated “Play & Read to Learn” backpacks filled with books, activities, and developmentally rich play materials focused on creative, physical, cognitive, and sensory-perceptual learning. The training program included the opportunity for providers to take the children in their care on field trips to the Toy Library with an early learning teacher facilitator. A favorite memory was when a child arrived at the door – saying “I dreamed about this place, and it’s real!”

Eventually, stewardship of the Toy Library transitioned from the Junior League to community partners, and ultimately to the Rochester Public Library/Monroe County Library System. Deb played an instrumental role in helping the transition to the library and raising funds to renovate the space from a warehouse to an inviting play space and toy library. Today, it still lives at the Lincoln Branch Public Library in Marketview Heights, where a 2,500-square-foot space continues to serve families at no cost.

Years later, when Deb stopped by, she met a father having “tea time” with his children at the play kitchen table. She asked how often they visited. “All the time,” he replied. “This place should be treated like the Rochester Museum & Science Center—it’s that important.”

The Rochester Toy Library began as a grassroots effort and quickly grew into one of the largest toy libraries in the country and became a model for others in areas ranging from Buffalo to Hong Kong.

Starting again—because the work isn’t done

Splitting time between Rochester and Cape Cod, Deb was getting to know a new community. As parents heard about Deb’s experience developing the Rochester Toy Library, they emphatically urged Deb to help start one on the Cape. Families on the Cape faced similar gaps in access to child-centered community spaces and resources. What started as casual conversations became a yearlong listening tour with parents, educators, and librarians that reinforced the need which led to Deb leading the charge to build a new organization from the ground up—as a 501(c)(3) non-profit as Cape Cod Toy Library, Inc. in 2017. It began as a “traveling road show,” hosting pop-up play areas at parent/family resource fairs, schools, museums, and community halls. By 2019, a church provided space to begin public family play day programs that were gaining momentum just when the pandemic hit. With persistence, volunteer power, and a pandemic-era silver lining of time to catalog the toys, the Toy Library lending began in the spring of 2022. During the same time emerging from the pandemic, Deb initiated a collaborative with Hyannis Public Library to create an Outdoor Play Oasis on their backyard property which opened in the fall of 2022.

True to form, Deb has continued to focus on sustainability and quality: hiring child development specialists, partnering with schools, special education teachers and pediatricians, mental health providers, and designing spaces that honor children’s curiosity. When the organization needed a permanent home, Deb worked tirelessly coordinating architects, donors, and volunteers to bring the vision to life.

In December 2025, Cape Cod Toy Library opened their new home, a 4,300 square foot building that has enough space for the library’s 2,000+ collection of lending toys, as well as a large Reggio-inspired play space with initiations to play in creative arts, construction/building, dramatic play, sensory explorations, an area dedicated to infants and toddlers, and more.

Deb invited local school superintendents to speak at the grand opening. One of them summed it up best: “This not only exemplifies the values of dignity and community it also exemplifies excellence—in every detail.”

For Deb, the work has always been about more than toys—“It’s about supporting children’s need for play for their healthy development and learning; it’s about fostering meaningful, joyful family engagement; and it’s about building genuine community connections through play.”

“I continue to devote full time to this work because I believe play is essential for the well-being of children, families, community, and society. I’ve seen the difference the community play spaces, play resources, and supportive guidance has made in children’s and adult’s lives. Access to play and supportive adults for children and families shouldn’t be a privilege.”

She credits Harley with helping her see what’s possible when education is thoughtful, relational, rooted in respect for the individual, and fosters joy in learning in the community. Decades later, that lesson continues to push her forward.

Deb authored a chapter in Play & Social Justice: Equity, Advocacy, & Opportunity (2023) on the role of toy libraries in supporting play equity. Providing equitable access to play in the community helps to address inequities based on race, socioeconomic status, and ability.

In addition to Deb’s four decades of dedication to developing toy libraries, play spaces, and play learning programs, she held instrumental roles in starting the Discovery Room at the George Eastman House Museum, creating the Brighton School District’s Family Resource Center, and developing the Science Linkages in the Community Science & Math Co-Explorers professional development training programs for Rochester City School District UPK teachers and Family Childcare Providers.

Deb has a long running relationship with Harley, she is not only a graduate and former faculty member, but she and Peter are parents to Lenora ’06 and Will ’10. She has also served as a member of the board of trustees, and was the winner of Harley’s Distinguished Alumni Award in 2023.