ABEL Lois Lavonne (Couture)

3/25/35 ~ 5/12/14

Lois Lavonne (Couture) Abel, age 79, of Samaria, MI passed away Monday, May 12, 2014, in The Toledo Hospital. Lois Couture was born to Olin and Donna (Crandall) Couture in Samaria, MI.

She was known to family and friends as "Lavonne." Her childhood was spent listening to baseball on the radio with her father and playing with her lifelong friend and "sister," Bernice (Sorter) Hall. Lavonne graduated from Bedford High School in 1953, then from The Toledo Hospital School of Nursing in 1956. In 1957, she married Ralph Abel at Grace United Methodist Church in Samaria. He preceded her in death in 1993.Lavonne worked at The Toledo Hospital as an RN until starting a family in 1966. She went back to work at various nursing homes from 1977 until 1985.

Lavonne was active in church her entire life until the last few years. She was an avid reader of the bible and loved to learn about other religions. She loved to be outdoors and enjoyed many vacations in rural northern Michigan and especially in the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. Family always thought that she wanted to be any place besides home.

She is survived by her sons, Allan (Elizabeth) and Kent Abel and her granddaughters, Brianna, Brittany, and Brooke. She was also preceded in death by her daughter, Lannette and "sister," Bernice.

Visitation will be Sunday, May 18, 2014, from 5 p.m. until 8 p.m. in Urbanski's Bedford Funeral Chapel 8300 Lewis Avenue, Temperance, MI where the Funeral Service will be held Monday, May 19, 2014, at 11 a.m.; officiated by Rev. Thomas Zimmerman, Pastor of Lambertville United Methodist Church. Burial will follow in Lambertville Cemetery.

Online condolences may be shared at bedfordfuneralchapel.com

Published in Toledo Blade on May 17, 2014