Catholic Diocese of Spokane, Washington

From the

Official News Magazine of the Diocese of Spokane

(From the Sept. 30, 2004 edition of the Inland Register)

Walter Abel, a former priest of the Diocese of Spokane, died Sept. 19 in Spokane. He was 73.

The funeral Mass was celebrated Sept. 24 at St. Mary Church, Spokane Valley, where he was a parishioner. Inurnment was to take place at Highland Cemetery, Norwood, Mass., the city of his birth.

From 1958 to 1978 he served as pastor of parishes in Ritzville, Cheney, and at St. Mary in Spokane. He left the priesthood in 1978.

That same year, he married Donna Barrett, who survives him.

He was operations manager for the Chiles Foundation for some 15 years before he retired in 1996. The Abels moved back to Spokane in 2001.

Besides St. Mary Parish, he was a member of the Knights of Columbus and the Spokane Valley Rotary Club.

Memorial contributions may be made to the Catholic Foundation of the Spokane Diocese, P.O. Box 1453, Spokane, WA 99210-1453, or the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research, Grand Central Station, P.O. Box 4777, New York, NY 10163.