ABEL, Myrtle Louise, age 92 of Waterford, went to be with her Lord October 18, 2009. Myrtle was a longtime teacher who loved to read and do all kinds of puzzles. Preceded in death by her husband, John H. Abel; her parents, John
& Jennie (Huyser) Schut; her siblings, Marian (Rip) Raterink, Gerrit (Alma)
Schut, Dorothy (Jim) Baareman and Shenie (Ted) Kort; John's siblings: Iren (Ken)
Yonker, Jim (Jane) Abel. She is survived by her dear friend and sister-in-law,
Helen (Bob) Swindell and her loving children, Gary (Alicia) Abel, David Abel,
Janice Meagher, Bradley (Linda) Abel; her grandchildren; Jennifer Meagher,
Candice Smith, Kimberly (Andy) Buckland, Kristen Abel, Katie (Shaun) Keough,
Elizabeth Abel, Nicholas Abel, her great grandchildren; Taylor and Cameron
Smith, Addison and Anderson Buckland and many nieces & nephews. Myrtle was born
and raised on a farm in Hudsonville, MI. She married her high school sweetheart,
John Abel, in 1940. They both attended Western State Normal (now Western
Michigan University), graduating in 1938. They moved to Waterford in 1942 where
they raised their four children. Myrtle graduated with a BA degree in Education.
She began her teaching career in Brown City, teaching elementary school until
the arrival of her first child in 1942. She resumed her career as a substitute
teacher in Waterford in 1954. In 1971, after the death of her husband, she began
teaching full time at Carl Sandburg Elementary until her retirement in 1983.
Myrtle was an active member, since 1940, of the First Presbyterian Church of
Pontiac. After retirement, she loved spending time at her cottage on Whitefish
Bay in Paradise, MI, reading, and doing puzzles of any kind. Until recently, she
was an active member of the Waterford Foundation for Public Education. In her
later years, her greatest pleasure was watching her grandchildren and
great-grandchildren grow and felt blessed to have them to enrich her life.les.