The following is copied from the original which was in a box of records and pictures belonging to Mabel's cousin, Debbie Vivian Gooch Logue. Karen Seibert Mabel Alice Rees The subject of this sketch was born to David C. and Hollis Corn Rees Oct. 23, 1903 and with the exception of a few short visits in different pasts of the state, spent her entire life of twenty-eight years on the farm near Ebenezer where she was born. When she was a very small child, she was stricken with a serious illness that for a time threatened to wrest her away. Due to loving care and her own inherent physical strength, she finally rallied but with a body too frail to enable her to gratify fully her ardent ambition to secure a liberal education. Compelled to discontinue attendance at the township high school because of failing health, her steadfastness of purpose prompted her to continue her studies at home in leisure hours, when household duties which she assumed did not demand her attention. She thus earned the credits necessary to be graduated from Rio Grande High School with the class of 1932 This attainment reinforced by wide, well-chosen and discriminate reading – this jeweled crown of her young womanhood secured by her own firm resolve – to-gether with systematized study, equipped her with a broader view, a more extended vision, a grander philosophy of life than that acquired by many with good health and greater opportunities. She was more familiar with current topics and had a greater knowledge of world history than many college students. It was the writer’s privilege to spend much time with her alone in the great out-of-doors. He knew her intimately and well. Her quick perception, her alert and inquiring mind, her keen sense of humor, her unselfish kindness and consideration so manifest in her attitude toward others made her a most enjoyable companion, a staunch and splendid friend. Development along the lines which she had chosen is the only thing that was necessary to have made her truly great. Who shall say that this development has ended? Who shall say that it may not have just begun? It is a consoling thought that her soul may be building even more “stately mansions” that those she constructed here while she was unconsciously garnering our most copious measures of admiration, respect and love. Her strong public spirit manifested itself in many ways. She has been the organist at Ebenezer Sunday School for the past fifteen years and has served as its treasurer for ten years. In a county wide contest, her government itself recognized this virtue by presenting her with a medal for having sold the greatest number of War Saving Stamps. She was appointed to a federal office of trust that required careful painstaking effort. She became a member of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Thurman under the pastorate of Rev. J. E. Dibert. Shortly after the dawn of a new day on June 8, 1932 she was summoned to that unknown, an-to-us-unknowable, realm – one however which we thoroughly believe to be governed by a supreme and benevolent Intelligence, where the wrongs of this world are righted, where the mistakes of this life are rectified, where care and worry cease and Peace that passeth all understanding reigns supreme. There, awaiting her, she will find the little sister and baby brother who have preceded her. She bequeaths a blessed memory to her father, mother, sister, Florence, and a multitude of other relatives and friends. Better than stocks and bonds, better than houses and lands, better than money or anything that wealth can devise is this rich legacy, this bountiful heritage of a loving memory that honors and reveres the one who bestowed it. The world stands out on either side No wider than her heart was wide; Above the world is stretched the sky No higher than her soul was high; The heart can push the sea and the land Farther away on either hand; Her soul hath cleft a rift of blue Through which the face of God shines through.