October 5, 1925 – January 6, 2022
Patrick Henry Zabel of Devine, Texas passed away Thursday, January 6, 2022, at the age of 96. He was preceded in death by his beloved wife, Martha Zabel, his mother Mary Louine Dalton, and siblings Zora Anderson, Janet King, and Ed Zabel. Pat is survived by his four daughters: Valerie Jeanne Meadows and husband Robert, Sarah Zabel, Mary Zabel, and Susan Cheval and husband Regis; his grandchildren Richard Meadows, Debra Meadows, and Nicholas Gentry; his great-granddaughter Myka Meadows; his sister Linda Marsten and his many nieces and nephews.
Born in 1925, Pat’s early life was strongly influenced first by the Great Depression and then the onset of World War II. He was a member of the Greatest Generation, joining the Washington State Guard as a teenager following the attack on Pearl Harbor. At the age of 17, he graduated high school early in order to enlist in the U.S. Army. After the war, he attended the U.S. Military Academy at West Point as a member of the class of 1950. Following his graduation and commissioning, Lieutenant Patrick Zabel served in the Berlin Brigade on active duty, then transferred to the California National Guard and later to the U.S. Army Reserve. He retired from the U.S. Army Reserve as a Lieutenant Colonel.
With innumerable friends, two daughters, and a son-in-law in military service, Pat dedicated his professional life as an engineer to addressing the vulnerability and survivability of military systems. In 1976, he moved with his family to Devine, Texas, to work at the Southwest Research Institute in San Antonio. In Devine, Pat enjoyed improving and maintaining his rural homestead, hunting and animal-watching, and the company of the legions of dogs, cats, and horses living on the property. For many years, he actively assisted with local elections and the Republican Party.
Pat met and married Martha Gallagher in 1961 after a whirlwind courtship. They raised their four daughters together and rejoiced in their lives and those of their grandchildren. He would never lose his crippling grief from her death more than a decade ago, and his love of her never diminished. In the last year of his life, looking into her daughters’ eyes, he saw only his beloved Martha, and told her directly how much he loved her and how lucky he was. He will be laid to rest next to her at Cedar Grove Cemetery in Trinity, Texas, on January 12.