Baker City, Baker County, Oregon
Mabel M. Humble, 100, of Prairie City, died Dec. 5, 2005, at Blue Mountain Nursing Home.
Her memorial service will be at 3 p.m. Saturday at the John Day United Methodist Church, 126 N.W. Canton St. Private vault interment was Friday, Dec. 9, at Mount Hope Cemetery.
She was born in Baker City on Feb. 9, 1905. She was the youngest of five children born to Martin and Nettie Humble.
After graduating from Baker High School in 1923, Mabel began a career as an elementary school teacher. She taught at several one- and two-room schools in Baker County, including Fairview, east of Baker City; Rock Creek, northwest Baker City; and Little Lookout and Plano, both near Durkee.
She attended Seton Hall College in New Jersey and then returned to Oregon and attended Ashland Normal School where she graduated with a teaching degree in 1932. In the fall of 1932 she returned to Baker County and taught at McEwen, near Sumpter, and then spent two more years at Plano.
These were all one- and two-room schoolhouses where Mabel taught eight grades and did the janitorial work as well.
In 1935 she moved to Klamath County and taught at Merrill, Bonanza and Altamont schools until she retired in 1968. After her retirement she lived in John Day with her sister, Helen Southworth.
The Methodist Church was an important part of Mabel’s life and she was an active volunteer at the John Day United Methodist Thrift Shop. She helped at the thrift shop into her late 80s.
She was a member of the Blue Mountain Hospital Auxiliary and crocheted many of the baby blankets that were given to the newborns at the hospital.
Mabel loved to travel and during her summer breaks from teaching was able to see a lot of the world. Foreign destinations included Europe, Japan, Canada, Norway, Mexico and the South Pacific. Within the United States she traveled to New England, Utah, and Florida.
Mabel will be remembered as a friendly, generous, hard-working and quiet-spoken person with a quick wit and good sense of humor. She was a source of quiet inspiration to her friends and relatives. Survivors include her nieces, Helen Bieghler of Medford; Brenda Pank of Connecticut; Barbara Hill of Massachusetts; a nephew, Ronald Southworth of Atlanta; and numerous great-nephews and great-nieces.
Memorial contributions may be made to the John Day United Methodist Church or to the Blue Mountain Healthcare Foundation through Driskill Memorial Chapel, 241 S. Canyon Blvd., John Day, OR 97845.
Used with permission from: Baker City Herald, Baker City, Oregon, December 9, 2005
Transcribed by: Belva Ticknor