Abeel, Mrs. Edith L. 1868-1942

ABEEL, HALL

Posted By: Linda Ziemann, volunteer (email)
Date: 11/5/2023 at 16:27:32

Argus-Leader, Sioux Falls SD — Wednesday, June 17, 1942 (page 10)

STORM HEROINE

Early Teacher’s Funeral Is Held
Mrs. Edith L. Abeel, 74, Saved Lives
of Pupils in 1888 Blizzard.

Alcester, S.D., June 17.—Funeral services were held in the First Baptist church here Tuesday afternoon for Mrs. Edith L. Abeel, 74, early day rural school teacher near Akron, Ia., who save the lives of several pupils in the blizzard of 1888. She died at her home here Saturday after a lingering illness.

Mrs. Abeel, the former Edith Loanna Hall, was born August 26, 1868, at Austin, Minn. She came to Sioux Valley township, Union county, with her parents, Mr. and Mrs. Samuel Hall in 1882, and grew to womanhood in that community.

She attended Elk Point high school and the University of South Dakota and then taught school at Mt. Hope and Big Springs, S.D. She was married December 14, 1888, to Orlin A. Abeel at the Baptist church in Big Springs, S.D. Mr. and Mrs. Abeel moved to Centerville, S.D. where he became cashier of the Bank of Centerville. Mr. Abeel was elected treasurer of Turner county and after four years at Parker, S.D. they moved to Alcester, where he was editor of the Alcester Union until 1900. At that time he became vice president of the Alcester State Bank and later president of the First National Bank of Beresford, S.D. Mr. Abeel died September 20, 1916, and Mrs. Abeel made her home at Mitchell until 1935, when she returned to Alcester.

Surviving are her six sons, Charles W., of San Francisco; Verne W., of Pierre; Paul J., of Roseburg, Ore.; Clyde A., of San Francisco; Orlin W., of Fort Dodge, Ia., and Clifford M., of Sioux City; two brothers, Oscar and Ernest Hall, of Sioux Falls, and four sisters, Mrs. H. B. Hanson, of Akron, Ia.; Alice Fox, of O’Neill, Neb.; Mrs. Ethel M. Kaczor, of O’Neill, Neb., and Mrs. J. B. Ruble, of Winona, Minn.

It was while Mrs. Abeel was teaching at Mt. Hope school, three miles northwest of Akron, that the story of her saving the lives of the children was enacted. She kept the pupils in the school overnight and prevented loss of life. While at Mt. Hope, also she organized the first Sunday school in that area.