THE PASSING OF BILL ABELING
William Joseph Abeling was born in San Francisco, CA on December 1, 1926 to Opal and Joseph Abeling. He passed away on September 7, 2010 in Covina CA. The family lived in Oakland until Bill was twelve at which time his father was transferred to Los Angeles. Bill attended school at Santa Anita Elementary, Woodrow Wilson Jr High School and High School & College at Pasadena City College. He served in the Navy from 1944 to 1946, most of his time being spent in the Philippines as a navy photographer. In 1950 he married Mary Jane Blough, they settled in West Covina CA and started a family. They had three children Gail, Tony, and Mike. They in turn produced ten grandchildren. They celebrated their 60th wedding anniversary in July.
Bill and his father Joe started Consumers Pipe and Supply in 1965 in Los Angeles. The company grew over the years to include offices in Fontana, Las Vegas and San Diego. Consumers Pipe is now one of the nation's premier industrial Pipe, Valve & Fitting distributor in California and Nevada. Today his son Mike is the President & CEO of the company will continue as the third generation.
In the early days he enjoyed fishing and back packing in the Sierras Nevada Mountains. In 1968 he purchased a cabin on Gull Lake in the June Lake Loop area of Mono County for family vacations. He never lost his passion for gathering, cutting and splitting wood to burn in the fireplace. Bill could always find a project that need to be done.
After retirement he became interested in growing cymbidiums and orchids and was very successful as with everything in his life. Other interest he had at one time or another were skiing, Barbershop Quartet singing and always the Dodgers. He continued to have interest in Consumers Pipe and enjoyed attending their Taco Days and Christmas parties. He most loved having his children and grandchildren around at family gatherings. We will miss him.