Marjorie Abell

Marjorie Maxine (Nelson) Abell, 91, of Grinnell, died Saturday, October 19, 2019, at the Gove County Medical Center in Quinter. She was born May 31, 1928, to Walter and Ruby Nelson, and raised on a farm in the Clifton-Clyde area of central Kansas. She attended Kansas Wesleyan University in Salina, and graduated with a teaching degree from Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kansas. She went on to teach school in Republic, Lebanon, and Hoxie (KS.) On August 17, 1957, she married Robert (Bob) Abell, and together they built their family and became the 3rd generation to inherit and work the Abell family farming and ranching operation in Gove County. Marjorie was a farm/ranch wife and mother, and returned to teaching as a substitute in surrounding schools for over 40 years. She was a member of the Grinnell United Methodist Church, active in the Kansas Farm Bureau, served on the Board of Directors for the Gove County Medical Center and the High Plains Mental Health Center, and remained active as a 4-H home economics judge at numerous county fairs over the years, including this past summer, and had already accepted invitations to return to several fairs for the summer of 2020.

Marjorie was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers Calvin Nelson and Robert Nelson, and her husband Bob.

She is survived by a brother, Chester Nelson of Corpus Christi, Texas, her children, Roger Abell, of Orion, KS, Dwight (Rhonda) Abell, of Oakley, KS, Gordon (Stacy) Abell, of Olathe, KS, Cathleen Abell, of Holcomb, KS, and Charlotte Bailey, of Olathe, KS; seven grandchildren, Hannah Pauls, Laura Holzmeister, Kelsey Brown, Kayla Abell, Wyatt Abell, Ethan Abell, and Nelson Bailey; two (plus one-on-the-way) great grandchildren; and many beloved nieces, nephews, cousins, and friends.

In honoring Marjorie’s specific request, cremation was chosen and no formal service will be held. Just as with Bob’s passing in April 2017, the family will be celebrating the life of Marjorie in a private tradition on the family ranch. Marjorie also specifically requested the family dissuade others from traditional gestures of grief support such as flowers, etc. In honoring that sentiment, the family would ask that in lieu of flowers, monetary gifts, cards, etc., that you ‘pay it forward’ as Marj would do – go out of your way to be kind to others, reach out and help someone, donate your time to a community board or charity, clip coupons and send in rebates for others, purchase groceries then make a meal for a family in need, deliver homemade bread to a widow or ‘shut in’, save and send newspaper clippings of interest to friend/family of article’s subject – basically do something, anything, to make someone else’s day a little better, their life a little easier, and remind them they are thought of and prayed for.

The family wishes to extend special gratitude and thankfulness to the team at the Gove County Medical Center for their exceptional respect and compassion during Marjorie’s stay in the swing bed unit; may loved ones of others receive the same loving care Marjorie did.