MARGARET ELIZABETH GABRIEL's Obituary
Margaret E. Gabriel, beloved mother and grandmother, died at home on May 21, 2008. The San Bernardino Valley was her home for 87 years and she was just shy of her 90th birthday.
In 1900, Isador and Petronella Strommer immigrated from Austria and initially settled in South Bend, Indiana, where Margaret was born the seventh of nine children. Twenty-two years later, the family moved to Rialto, California and purchased orange grove properties, including the Rialto “Adobe House”.
Margaret graduated from San Bernardino High School in 1936, attended San Bernardino Valley College and received a BA in Education from the University of California at Santa Barbara in 1940. She taught in both private and public elementary schools, including fourteen years at Casey Elementary School in Rialto. She continued her studies at UC Riverside keeping her credentials current until retirement.
She loved the performing arts and had a great interest in classical music and opera. In her middle years, Margaret was active in the San Bernardino Symphony Association and the San Bernardino Civic Light Opera, where she filled numerous positions of responsibility. She and her husband, Michael, had a decades-long, active, supportive relationship with St. Bernardine Hospital and Guild. Always interested in sports, she avidly followed the Angels, Dodgers and Notre Dame football.
Margaret was also active in the area’s well-known department store, “Gabriel Bros.”, assisting the Vice President of Purchasing, Michael C. Gabriel. Her family considered her a great cook, specializing in Lebanese and Austrian dishes. In addition to successfully raising four sons and one daughter, she became a faithful, competent caregiver and healthcare manager for her husband, Michael, and two elder sisters, Josephine and Theresa, over many, many years.
She was preceded in death by her husband of forty-eight years, Michael C. Gabriel, and is survived by their five children and respective spouses: Dr. William Gabriel and Dian of Santa Barbara, CA; Michael C. Gabriel and Dr. Kathleen Gabriel of Chico, CA; Amelia Gabriel Bowers and Christopher of Seattle, WA; Dr. Richard Gabriel and Judith of Eugene, OR; Paul A. Gabriel and Yvette of San Luis Obispo, CA. Ten grandchildren and two-great grandchildren also survive her.
We thank and deeply appreciate the VNA-Hospice of Southern California for their sensitive, competent service and direction during her final year.
The family wishes to give tribute and appreciation to Margaret’s private care-giver Janet Tejada and her assistants, Ida and Sonia, who largely contributed to the quality of her last years.
Services will be held at Our Lady of the Rosary Cathedral, Thursday, June 5, at 11 in the morning.
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