Obituary: William Fritz (Bill) Abel
December 22, 1944 – June 19, 2026
July 1, 2026
William Fritz (Bill) Abel. 1944-2026
Following a long illness, William Fritz (Bill) Abel, 81, passed away peacefully at his home in Waterbury Center, Vermont, on June 19, 2026, with his second wife, Jane Gallagher, at his side.
The couple, who instantly knew they had met the love of their lives in a whirl of wild, improvisational dancing, never stopped grinning as they moved joyfully together for the duration of their 28-year love affair.
With a passion for life, Bill spent much of his free time exploring and nourishing the diversity of nature around him wherever he lived, gravitating to Vermont's mountains, woodlands and lakes in his free time throughout his adult life, ultimately retiring to the home he and Jane created there in the foothills of the Worcester Mountain Range.
A dedicated supporter of the Vermont Land Trust and many other environmental organizations, Bill reveled in frog and bird song and the annual spring search for ephemeral wildflowers along Sweet Road. He was especially fond of and fascinated by the courage and daring of chickadees and the annual journeys of hummingbirds and monarch butterflies, marveling at how these tiny, delicate creatures could survive to navigate their annual pilgrimages from South America to his particular backyard flowers and bird feeder.
Bill also felt a deep kinship with a majestic old maple tree beside Stagecoach Lane while confronting the physical challenges of the cancer that eventually claimed his life. He dubbed the tree “The Mighty Maple,” inspired by its remarkable life force in the face of a serious lightning strike years earlier, and went out of his way to protect and preserve it.
In the late 1960s, Bill's passion for life led him to begin pouring his energy into the start of a groundbreaking career as a leader in the national movement to reintegrate people with intellectual and developmental disabilities into the lives of their communities. His work was instrumental in closing down institutions incarcerating such people across Massachusetts, where he first landed as a graduate student in the Boston University School of Theology, accompanied by his first wife, Paula. Choosing a career of advocacy for people with developmental disabilities as his ministry, he later earned a PhD in organizational psychology at Boston University in 1990. Beginning his career while still a student in the School of Theology, as a "house parent" with Paula, a graduate student in special education at the time, the couple was hired to run the first community-based residence in Massachusetts for men coming out of a nearby institution called The Fernald State School. Throughout his life, Bill enjoyed relating many humorous, heart-warming stories about his experiences with the men he had served and lived with in that residence and what he learned from his relationships with them.
After a painful break-up with his wife near the end of their time as house parents, Bill spent a year reorienting his heart and mind while living on a sailboat with a home port in the Florida Keys. However, the day-to-day experiences he had had with the men in the community residence drew him back to an advocacy career in Massachusetts, where he was hired in 1975 to become the first paid employee for a group of parents of children with developmental disabilities who called themselves The South Norfolk County Association for Retarded Citizens (now known as the Arc of South Norfolk). His first office was in his car.
Under Bill's leadership over the next 35 years, the Arc of South Norfolk expanded significantly, adding many more services to the initial employment training program begun by the parent group. Programs such as the Harbor Counseling Center, the Family Autism Center, the Autism and Law Enforcement Education Coalition, and Community-Based Day Supports were brought into being under Bill's leadership. He also led the growth of the organization's widening footprint to include 19 residential homes, two employment centers, and two day habilitation programs, fighting and winning a number of necessary legal battles to make those programs possible. Bill hired and mentored Dan Burke and Leo Sarkissian early in their careers, gifted leaders who continued to work closely with him. They skillfully carried on the legacy of his work after Bill's retirement in 2010, remaining valued friends until the end of his life.
Born in San Angelo, Texas, Bill spent his childhood in several places where his father's career as a chemical engineer led the young family. His mother easily found work as a librarian wherever they lived, giving birth along the way to Bill's three younger siblings. When Bill was 6, his brother Rick was born in Dayton, Ohio, where the family first moved from Texas. A year and a half later, his sister Kathy entered his life, following which the family moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma, then Toledo, Ohio, ultimately landing in Morgantown, West Virginia, when Bill was 14. His father's career culminated there as a government research scientist, and his mother's as a medical librarian at West Virginia University. His youngest brother, Gary, was born soon after the family's final move.
Growing up, Bill was an adventurous bicycle rider, tree climber, hiker, skier and camping enthusiast, often telling stories about life in his favorite hometown of Toledo, where he had been a dedicated Boy Scout under a troop leader who led the boys into many outdoor adventures and taught them to play the harmonica. As a standing substitute for a popular musical group called The Harmonicats, Bill's Boy Scout leader landed the troop a spot on a local radio program, playing their harmonicas as part of a talent contest, something Bill never forgot, surprising his grandchildren and others with his skill on the harmonica until the year before his death. With a gifted musical ear, Bill enjoyed a wide variety of genres. He could tell you the name and composer of many classical pieces after hearing only the first few bars of music. He was also a big fan of jazz and the Motown rock ’n’ roll that highlighted his teenage years.
A beloved husband, brother, stepfather, uncle, grandfather and great-uncle, Bill is survived by his wife, Jane; his stepdaughters, Lilah Behrend and Clara Williamson, and their families; and his siblings, Rick Abel, Kathy McLaughlin, Gary Abel and their families.
In lieu of a funeral service or flowers, Bill would have been honored to know that those who wished to honor his life instead took some time to commune with the mysterious sacredness of life in a beautiful natural setting in the same spirit in which he did as a contemplative.
A financial donation to Lifeworks, National Audubon Society, or Vermont Land Trust would honor the big-hearted spirit of Bill's life, or you might choose to plant a tree in his honor.
Arrangements by Perkins-Parker Funeral Home. Online condolences may be made here.