Background
Turbeville, Deborah was born on July 6, 1932, in Stoneham, Massachusetts, United States. She was the daughter of Donald A. and Martha Turbeville.
She was born into a wealthy family in New England that desired to be both distinguished and isolated but paradoxically suffered from this isolation.
Her paternal grandfather had dreamed of being a painter in Paris. Upon his return to the United States, he bought a large house, isolated in the periphery of Boston, which Deborah's mother and aunts inherited. Deborah's father, who was from Texas, also lived in the house. Deborah had an older brother called Tom, who lived in New York on Riverside Drive.