NY DAILY NEWS
She Kills Self At Husband's Grave
BY VIRGINIA BREEN
Monday, January 05, 1998
Louis Abel died six months ago. Saturday his wife, Margaret, died with him.
The 80-year-old's body was found slumped over her husband's grave with a bag over her head at Brooklyn's Lutheran All Saints Cemetery. An empty bottle of vodka and prescription drugs lay nearby.
Margaret Abel of Flushing, Queens, had battled severe depression since her husband died, their son said yesterday. Still, her Saturday afternoon suicide stunned her son and daughter.
"She'd given up living at the time of his death, and I guess she had contemplated it for some time," said her son, who did not want his name used. "I lived with her for the last two months. We celebrated her 80th birthday on Dec. 15."
Abel's son believed his mother's spirits had been lifted at the birthday party, because she was reunited with her only daughter, whom she had not seen in eight years.
"There were problems, but family life was getting better," he said. "But I guess maybe because things were better, she thought it was no longer necessary for her to be around.'
Grief-stricken neighbors recalled with sadness how Margaret and Louis Abel, married for more than a half century, tended the garden in front of their two-story home on 176th St.
Margaret raised their two children while Louis worked as a tire company executive. Louis retired 20 years ago, which allowed the couple to spend more time coaxing their garden to bloom.
"She was a great one with the flowers," said Theodore Miller, a neighbor of 34 years. "She once won a prize, second in the state," he said. "She was just an absolutely terrific person."
After her husband's death, Margaret wrote to one of his business associates.
"She said in the letter that she was supposed to be with my father, but that she had been delayed," her son recalled.
Saturday at 2:10 p.m., a passerby found her body at her husband's plot.
Her cremated remains will be united with her husband's and will be buried in the family plot, the son said.
"We saved some of his ashes after he died, so they'll be united," he said.
She Kills Self At Husband's Grave
BY VIRGINIA BREEN
Monday, January 05, 1998
Louis Abel died six months ago. Saturday his wife, Margaret, died with him.
The 80-year-old's body was found slumped over her husband's grave with a bag over her head at Brooklyn's Lutheran All Saints Cemetery. An empty bottle of vodka and prescription drugs lay nearby.
Margaret Abel of Flushing, Queens, had battled severe depression since her husband died, their son said yesterday. Still, her Saturday afternoon suicide stunned her son and daughter.
"She'd given up living at the time of his death, and I guess she had contemplated it for some time," said her son, who did not want his name used. "I lived with her for the last two months. We celebrated her 80th birthday on Dec. 15."
Abel's son believed his mother's spirits had been lifted at the birthday party, because she was reunited with her only daughter, whom she had not seen in eight years.
"There were problems, but family life was getting better," he said. "But I guess maybe because things were better, she thought it was no longer necessary for her to be around.'
Grief-stricken neighbors recalled with sadness how Margaret and Louis Abel, married for more than a half century, tended the garden in front of their two-story home on 176th St.
Margaret raised their two children while Louis worked as a tire company executive. Louis retired 20 years ago, which allowed the couple to spend more time coaxing their garden to bloom.
"She was a great one with the flowers," said Theodore Miller, a neighbor of 34 years. "She once won a prize, second in the state," he said. "She was just an absolutely terrific person."
After her husband's death, Margaret wrote to one of his business associates.
"She said in the letter that she was supposed to be with my father, but that she had been delayed," her son recalled.
Saturday at 2:10 p.m., a passerby found her body at her husband's plot.
Her cremated remains will be united with her husband's and will be buried in the family plot, the son said.
"We saved some of his ashes after he died, so they'll be united," he said.
NY DAILY NEWS
She Kills Self At Husband's Grave
BY VIRGINIA BREEN
Monday, January 05, 1998
Louis Abel died six months ago. Saturday his wife, Margaret, died with him.
The 80-year-old's body was found slumped over her husband's grave with a bag over her head at Brooklyn's Lutheran All Saints Cemetery. An empty bottle of vodka and prescription drugs lay nearby.
Margaret Abel of Flushing, Queens, had battled severe depression since her husband died, their son said yesterday. Still, her Saturday afternoon suicide stunned her son and daughter.
"She'd given up living at the time of his death, and I guess she had contemplated it for some time," said her son, who did not want his name used. "I lived with her for the last two months. We celebrated her 80th birthday on Dec. 15."
Abel's son believed his mother's spirits had been lifted at the birthday party, because she was reunited with her only daughter, whom she had not seen in eight years.
"There were problems, but family life was getting better," he said. "But I guess maybe because things were better, she thought it was no longer necessary for her to be around.'
Grief-stricken neighbors recalled with sadness how Margaret and Louis Abel, married for more than a half century, tended the garden in front of their two-story home on 176th St.
Margaret raised their two children while Louis worked as a tire company executive. Louis retired 20 years ago, which allowed the couple to spend more time coaxing their garden to bloom.
"She was a great one with the flowers," said Theodore Miller, a neighbor of 34 years. "She once won a prize, second in the state," he said. "She was just an absolutely terrific person."
After her husband's death, Margaret wrote to one of his business associates.
"She said in the letter that she was supposed to be with my father, but that she had been delayed," her son recalled.
Saturday at 2:10 p.m., a passerby found her body at her husband's plot.
Her cremated remains will be united with her husband's and will be buried in the family plot, the son said.
"We saved some of his ashes after he died, so they'll be united," he said.
She Kills Self At Husband's Grave
BY VIRGINIA BREEN
Monday, January 05, 1998
Louis Abel died six months ago. Saturday his wife, Margaret, died with him.
The 80-year-old's body was found slumped over her husband's grave with a bag over her head at Brooklyn's Lutheran All Saints Cemetery. An empty bottle of vodka and prescription drugs lay nearby.
Margaret Abel of Flushing, Queens, had battled severe depression since her husband died, their son said yesterday. Still, her Saturday afternoon suicide stunned her son and daughter.
"She'd given up living at the time of his death, and I guess she had contemplated it for some time," said her son, who did not want his name used. "I lived with her for the last two months. We celebrated her 80th birthday on Dec. 15."
Abel's son believed his mother's spirits had been lifted at the birthday party, because she was reunited with her only daughter, whom she had not seen in eight years.
"There were problems, but family life was getting better," he said. "But I guess maybe because things were better, she thought it was no longer necessary for her to be around.'
Grief-stricken neighbors recalled with sadness how Margaret and Louis Abel, married for more than a half century, tended the garden in front of their two-story home on 176th St.
Margaret raised their two children while Louis worked as a tire company executive. Louis retired 20 years ago, which allowed the couple to spend more time coaxing their garden to bloom.
"She was a great one with the flowers," said Theodore Miller, a neighbor of 34 years. "She once won a prize, second in the state," he said. "She was just an absolutely terrific person."
After her husband's death, Margaret wrote to one of his business associates.
"She said in the letter that she was supposed to be with my father, but that she had been delayed," her son recalled.
Saturday at 2:10 p.m., a passerby found her body at her husband's plot.
Her cremated remains will be united with her husband's and will be buried in the family plot, the son said.
"We saved some of his ashes after he died, so they'll be united," he said.
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