From the Obituary section of the Shanghai, Illinois, Daily Intelligencer 1/27/03

Mrs. Mabel Pleat Formp (nee' Formp) 1943- 2003


It with regret and sadness that the family and friends of Mrs. Formp say good-bye to her. She died Saturday in an explosion at the North Reach Senior Friends Nursing Home, where she was volunteering in the Hair Salon, mixing a batch of her special almost but not quite blue velvet rinse.


Several nurses aides and one inmate were injured, but not severely. They will, however, have a certain caste to their skin and hair for a little while. Mabel took pride in the proven semi-permanence of her rinse.


Mabel will be remembered for her devotion to her family, church, community, friends, dogs, cats, squirrels, ferrets, mice and trained tarantulas.


She will be missed by the Forran County Volunteer Fire Department Company #107. She was their den mother, auxiliary president, Ladder Captain of pumper #2, and the only person who could get the transmission on old #1 into gear in the winter, at one time or another.


Mabel left behind three brothers, Eric Lee, of Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, Salmon Singh, of Ft. Lee, Virginia, and Parallel Bob, of Ft. Dix, wherever.

She also left behind her daughter, Trimmer Leeann Roman, 48, of Errant Corners, Illinois, her granddaughter, Erica Pony Quail, 34, of Racine, Wisconsin, her great-granddaughter, Queenesther Michelle Quail, 18, of Mt. Vernon, Illinois, and her great-great-granddaughter, Dovey Free Samson, 1, of the Child Protective Services Foster Program of the Sovereign State of Rhode Island.


Mabel was born in a small pew at the back of the Last Chance Before Hell! African Methodist Episcopal Church in Cowden, Illinois during an Advent service. Her mother, Corinne Seely Formp, deceased, raised her to be a seamstress and a cobbler.

Mabel ran off with her third cousin, Eric Salmon Robert Formp, during a day camp program at the local YWCA. Eric was a lifeguard that summer. He later entered the U.S. Marines, where he taught landing craft etiquette at Officer Candidate School.

Mabel turned out to be a model military wife. She cleaned rifles, pressed khakis, shined shoes, and overhauled tracked vehicles, all for a modest fee.

When Capt. Eric Formp demobbed after Korea, Mabel and he had enough money to open their own business. They owned the Porous Ice Cream and Creamery on Route Street in Odin, Illinois for many years.

Capt. Formp died of recurring foot problems stemming from his military service in 1963.


Mabel forged on ahead, never looking back.

Before she died, she had owned or operated four other businessed, most having to do with auto repair or cosmetology or both, and served as the chairperson or president of the School Board, the Sewer Board, the Zoning Commission and the Animal Control District.

She never met a friend she didn't like.


Funeral will be held Tuesday at the Vincent Memorial Heartfelt Funeral Home and Washateria, in Hoof Print, Indiana, where she will be buried next to her father, Emmanuel 'Dick' Padrewski, and her grandmother, Penny May Pump, in the Guiding Light Memorial Baptist Church Cementary.

Donations in lieu of flowers may be made to the Lady's Auxiliary of VFW Post #8 of Odin, Illinois, for the refurbishing of the dance floor in the family center.