Born in Albany, Georgia, Deen is a notable graduate of Albany High School. She married her first husband after graduating high school in 1965. Her parents both died by the time she was 23, and a resultant fear of death led to chronic agoraphobia. She was a proficient Southern cook, and used it to help deal with her condition. in 1986, she felt okay enough to take a job as a bank teller. She was robbed at gunpoint the next year, and that incident led her to deal with her agoraphobia head-on. After the family moved to Savannah in 1989, she decided to parlay her cooking experience into a clandestine catering service. She made sandwiches and other meals, and her sons delivered them.