ALTON - Debbie “Sissy” Paynic, co-owner of Bubby and Sissy’s in Alton, leaves behind a legacy of love.
Debbie died on Jan. 3, 2025, following a seven-year battle with ovarian cancer. Her brother, Michael “Bubby” Paynic, remembers her as an active, welcoming presence at the bar and beyond.
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“When people would come in the bar, she would always say, ‘Hey, I'm Sissy,’” Michael said. “She was always very welcoming to people and really fun, just always had a smile on her face, always liked to have fun.”
Debbie enjoyed waterskiing and traveling. She was a diehard Cardinals fan and worked as an usher at Busch Stadium. She loved ball, even going so far as to finish a chemo treatment and still go to work because she enjoyed it so much.
She graduated from Roxana High School and played softball and field hockey at SIUE. She was also involved in the Piasa Indians Drill Team and the Belleville Black Knights Drum & Bugle Corps.
Debbie previously worked as a hairdresser and had a shop at the Wedge Building in Alton. Through her work, she met a ton of people, who will remember her kindness and resilience.
Twenty-three years ago, Michael and Debbie opened Bubby and Sissy’s at 602 Belle Street in Alton. The brother-and-sister duo became pillars of Alton’s LGBTQ+ community.
Michael shared that their parents, Tony and Joyce Paynic, were the administrators for the Wood River Moose Lodge for 30 years, so the decision to open Bubby and Sissy’s came naturally. Debbie loved being in the bar and meeting all of the people.
The bar always plays football or baseball games on the TV. If she wasn’t at the bar, then it wasn’t rare to catch a glimpse of Debbie at a Cardinals game. She always managed to make it on TV during the Cardinals’ opening day.
When Michael helped start Alton Pride a few years ago, Debbie attended all of the meetings. She became “one of the golf cart people” during the Alton Pride festivals, making sure everyone stayed safe.
“She always supported everything that I did,” Michael said.
In the last year, after Debbie decided to stop chemo treatments, she and her brother traveled to see family. Michael will always have fond memories of a trip they took to Temecula, California last August, where they went to the beach and spent time with cousins. This “very special time” will always stand out to him as a good memory.
As he grieves, he thanks his community for their support. Debbie and Michael’s family and their “great nucleus of friends” have been a big help to Michael as he planned Debbie’s services, scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 11, 2025. Visitation will start at 10 a.m. at Paynic Home for Funerals until the service at 1 p.m., followed by a celebration of life at the Wood River Moose.
Debbie leaves behind a dog, Bader, named for the baseball player Harrison Bader. She and Bader would often spend Sundays at the bar, tearing up the dance floor with her signature dance move, “The Paynic.” Michael laughed as he recounted Debbie with her thumbs in the air, “kind of like you’re hitchhiking,” and body rocking back and forth. That's how he’ll remember his sister.
“She was always very fun, loving and welcoming,” he said. “She just loved everybody.”
Memorials can be made to Debbie’s family or to Hospice of Southern Illinois.
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