Mabel Reese at 86: A Life of Sunshine, Shade and Sharing

By Photos by: Phil Grout

To put it bluntly, Mabel Reese “ain’t dead yet.” That line comes from a favorite poem by Canadian poet Ross Ingram, that the 86-year old Westminster native loves to recite whenever she can gather an audience.

For much of her life Mabel has been an outgoing person, active in civic affairs, especially the formation of Carroll County General Hospital and coordinator of the hospital volunteers. She has headed up door-to-door solicitations for most major fund drives in Westminster, including the hospital fund, American Red Cross, TB Association, Mothers’ March Against Polio, the Heart Fund and Cancer Society.

Mabel is an artist, too. Seventy years ago the teenage Mabel Strine drew a hat for a popular comic strip character, Tillie the Toiler. In less than a month she was a hit across the country; even as far away as the Philippines and Mexico.

The cartoonist, Russ Westover, loved Mabel’s drawing so much he included her address in the strip with her illustration. And that prompted a flood of fan mail from all over; even a marriage proposal from a young man in Louisiana.

Mabel still loves to break out her colored pencils and sketch a scene or a bird for a friend. But she has few examples of her artwork. She gives it all away. Back in the ’60s she sketched a portrait of Johnny Unitas and gave it to the star quarterback after a Colts practice at Western Maryland College. She also made a sketch for Johnny’s coach, Don Schula.

Mabel’s life has slowed a bit, but she remains active. Two years ago she fell and hit her head on a table. She was flown to Shock Trauma and treated for a blood clot in her brain. She recovered, and she still has her sense of joy. She sorts back through her life, bound between the pages of her collection of hefty scrapbooks. There are lots of press clippings about Mabel and the hospital or Mabel and the TB Association. There are news photos of a much younger Mabel Reese and her volunteers at the hospital. And many of the pages are filled with letters of appreciation from mayors and legislators. There is even a copy of The Congressional Record, which cites Mabel’s civic work. She also has a collection of autographs, including Guy Lombardo, Virgil Fox and Senator John Kennedy.

It has been a good life for Mabel Reese, but like most, one that has not been devoid of tragedy; and yet, apparently lined with silver. It started soon after she arrived. At four months the infant Mabel Strine developed a mastoid infection which left a hole behind her left ear and took her hearing on that side. The doctors predicted she would not survive. But she did. The mastoid condition kept her from attending public school. She attended the special Calvert School and had tutors throughout her school years.

Mabel pauses to study an early snapshot of her and her husband, Harry. The young soldier had just come home from World War II in Europe. That was the summer of ’45. Harry came over to the Strine house to see Mabel’s brother, Nevin. Harry also met Mabel. They were married a year later.

Three months after the couple married, Mabel developed several tumors. She underwent a double mastectomy. When Harry learned of the surgery, he fainted and cut his chin in the fall. The surgeon was wrong. Mabel’s tumors were benign. The radical surgery was unnecessary.

Mabel flips the page. There is a black and white photo of Mabel wearing a maternity dress. Mabel stares at the 60 year-old photo of herself and purses her lips. “She went to full term,” Mabel remembers. “But she was stillborn. We named her Janet. She had red hair just like mine. Harry and I dedicated the two hymn boards at church to Janet.”

Church has always been the Church of the Brethren on Belle Grove Square. Mabel sang soprano there in the choir for more than 40 years. Harry was the head usher for many of those years. Today Mabel serves as a newly elected church deaconess.

She stops and looks across the room to a large painting of Jesus, just above haer television. These are two important aspects of Mabel’s life: Jesus and television. She watches her beloved Orioles on television, but interjects, “They should have fired Perlozzo long ago.”

But it is Jesus who remains at the center of Mabel’s life in her tidy single room at the Bethania Home Care facility on Uniontown Road. Her religious focus has helped her put the tragedies behind.

And that faith has helped give Mabel a heart that she has extended to the community of Westminster. The scrapbooks, cards, letters and visits from old friends and elected officials are testimony to a life of spreading kindness and joy-mixed with sense of humor.

For years Mabel worked as a window dresser at Leggett’s Department Store. One day she was in the front window dressing a mannequin when she noticed a woman was staring at her. Mabel froze for a minute or so, then she turned around and the woman shrieked a little. “She thought I was a mannequin too,” Mabel laughs.
Mabel glances again at the painting of Jesus.

“I’ve tried to do what Jesus told us: to love one another,” she said. “When our baby was born dead, God lifted our spirits. When I had that fall two years ago, it was God who saved my life. I’ve never questioned God. And if God wants me now, I’m ready. But I ain’t dead yet.”