Rev. Robert F. Gabriel

A celebration for the life of Rev. Robert (Bob) Fewell Gabriel will be held at 2:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 12, 2016, at North Trenholm Baptist Church with Rev. Joe Copeland, officiating. The family will receive friends after the service at the church. A private burial will precede with the Rev. Richard A. Humphries officiating. Bob was born in Meridian, MS, on January 20, 1933 to DeLeon and Ruby Gabriel. He was a proud alum of Dreher High School (where he returned to teach English and math) and The University of South Carolina. He later received his masters of divinity degree from Southwestern Seminary in Fort Worth, TX. In 1986, Bob was listed in the Official Register of Outstanding Americans, which recognized Southern Baptist leaders. In 1959, Bob started his ministry as Minister of Evangelism and Missions at North Jacksonville Baptist Church, returning to Columbia in 1961 to prepare for the foreign mission field. After preaching as a guest minister at Belmont Baptist Church in Columbia, the church immediately called him to serve that congregation, where the church grew to a membership of nearly 1,000 under his tenure. Bob served until 1969, when he was called as Pastor of North Jacksonville Baptist Church. In 1972, Bob was called to serve as Associate Pastor and Youth Minister at North Trenholm Baptist Church, later becoming the Pastor, where he served until 1987. He and his beautiful devoted wife, Betty, were commissioned by the International Mission Board to serve the International Baptist Church of Rio, Brazil, where they ministered for a decade. Throughout their 50+ years of service, Bob and Betty made lifelong friends around the world. Bob knew in his young life that he was called to serve the Lord, and he was blessed to meet Betty while in seminary (Bob often told people that he “found his thrill on Seminary Hill”). They lived a life of love and devotion to family and church and celebrated their 58th anniversary on the day before his death. Throughout his service in the ministry – and especially in the years as his heath declined – family and friends were incredibly important to Bob. He loved more than anything to gather family together to celebrate Thanksgiving and Christmas, often opening up the Gabriel home to those without loved ones to celebrate. His family cherished the moments where they would gather in a circle and hold hands while he led them in prayer. Together, Bob and Betty loved serving their congregations, including hosting meals, and youth roller skating nights, where Bob enjoyed showing off his skills on the rink. He truly had a joy of life and an appreciation of God’s wonder on earth, and always saw his fellow man as a creation of God, regardless of provenance. Bob was predeceased by his parents and sister, Sarah Margaret Gabriel, and is survived by his beloved wife and children: Geoffrey Gabriel (Monnie), Laurie Gabriel, Amy Thomson (Waddy) and Beau Gabriel, all of Columbia, as well as children-in-love Joe and Jeannie Thomson. He is beaming with pride from Heaven over his adored grandchildren: Kyle Laughead (Leigh Anne Miller), Nicole Gabriel, Lauren Gabriel, Beau Atwood Gabriel, Ellie Thomson and Joseph Thomson, as well as his precious great-granddaughter, Sadie Grace Laughead. He is also survived by his sister, Mary Ann Harper of North Augusta and her children, Cathy Steele and Weston D. Harper and their children, Benjamin Steele, Sarah Steele and Weston D. Harper Jr. The family would like to thank the many friends who came to visit him in his final days and his loving caregivers, who include: the Compassionate Care Hospice team, Chaplain Mike Hilliard, Shambra Saxon, Carolyn Miles, Christine Webber and family friend, Lisa Nichols Smith. The love and dignity with which you treated our husband and father will forever remain in our gratitude-filled hearts. In lieu of flowers, the family requests that memorials may be made in his honor to North Trenholm Baptist Church, 6515 North Trenholm Road, Columbia, SC 29206.

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Rev. Robert F. Gabriel

January 20, 1933 - June 8, 2016