Madeleine Abell died at Cedars Nursing Home at the age of 91. She was the eldest child of Leonard Gurley Abell and Grace Madeleine Boynton.
Madeleine received her master's degree from Boston University. In 1940 she became the first woman to teach for the newly formed Civil Air Patrol (evening courses) and taught Stratford grade school students during the day. She held a pilot's license and was acquainted with the Lindberghs and Amelia Earhart. Worked for United Aircraft, Chance Vought Div., in Stratford. During that time, she was invited by Igor Sikorsky to examine, and write an article about his experimental helicopter, and with test pilot Jimmy Vener at the controls, she was apparently the first woman to fly in a helicopter. Madeleine applied for a position as an astronaut when she was in her sixties, explaining to NASA that it would be a good experiment to send a healthy senior citizen into space. She was politely refused. She jokingly claimed later, that Congressman John Glenn swiped her place. A lover of culture and languages, at the age of 90, sold or gave away all but what she could carry, and moved to Switzerland, returning to Maine only when it became clear she had an aggressive cancer. A notable quote....at the age of 85: "Send me into space:....are you kidding? I'd go in a minute. Never mind the spaceship, they could just set me out in a space suit. Oh, to be able to just float out there and gaze at the stars...."
Madeleine is survived by her daughter, Claudia Comstock, Craig, Cora and Charles Comstock, all residents of Maine.

Madeleine Abell died at Cedars Nursing Home at the age of 91. She was the eldest child of Leonard Gurley Abell and Grace Madeleine Boynton.
Madeleine received her master's degree from Boston University. In 1940 she became the first woman to teach for the newly formed Civil Air Patrol (evening courses) and taught Stratford grade school students during the day. She held a pilot's license and was acquainted with the Lindberghs and Amelia Earhart. Worked for United Aircraft, Chance Vought Div., in Stratford. During that time, she was invited by Igor Sikorsky to examine, and write an article about his experimental helicopter, and with test pilot Jimmy Vener at the controls, she was apparently the first woman to fly in a helicopter. Madeleine applied for a position as an astronaut when she was in her sixties, explaining to NASA that it would be a good experiment to send a healthy senior citizen into space. She was politely refused. She jokingly claimed later, that Congressman John Glenn swiped her place. A lover of culture and languages, at the age of 90, sold or gave away all but what she could carry, and moved to Switzerland, returning to Maine only when it became clear she had an aggressive cancer. A notable quote....at the age of 85: "Send me into space:....are you kidding? I'd go in a minute. Never mind the spaceship, they could just set me out in a space suit. Oh, to be able to just float out there and gaze at the stars...."
Madeleine is survived by her daughter, Claudia Comstock, Craig, Cora and Charles Comstock, all residents of Maine.