Florence R. Standish Abel
1911 - 1997
Florence Abel, an organist and pianist, taught piano and organ at La Sierra College, now University, and at Union College. Born in Illinois, she was the oldest of five daughters born to Effie Hubbard and Herbert Nelson Standish, a piano tuner and descendant of Miles Standish. She married Harlyn Abel, a music teacher who then taught at Portland Adventist Academy in Oregon and at LSC and UC.
After leaving UC in 1951, they moved to the Portland, Oregon, area where she accompanied The Portland Rose Chorale, a large chorale group in Portland founded by her husband, and other choral groups and festivals in the area. She assisted as an accompanist in productions of the Elijah and the Messiah and also served as a sub-dean of the Oregon Chapter of the American Guild of Organists in the 1950s.
ds/2009
Sources: 1930 Census Records, Pacific Union Recorder, 8 May 1967; Review and Herald, 31 December 1959;Northern Union Outlook, 20 January 1948, 4; Social Security Records