Charles Gabrel

Funeral services for Pug Gabrel, 79 year old Woodward resident, will be Saturday, May 31 at 1:00 P.M. at the Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church. The Reverend Jason Dirks will officiate. Interment will be in the Elmwood Cemetery in Woodward under the direction of Johnson's Good Samaritan Funeral Service. Visitation and viewing will be at the family home at Boiling Springs on Friday from 1 to 6 P.M. Charles Harvey "Pug" Gabrel was born November 28, 1928 in Rule, Texas to Alvin Calvary and Lela Ann (Henry) Gabrel. He grew up in Odessa, Texas where he was co-captain and star running back for the Odessa High School football team that won the state championship in 1946. He then attended the University of Texas at El Paso where he graduated with a double major in education and physical education. He was captain of the football team there and one of the top running backs in the country for two years. After graduating he took his first coaching job as an assistant to Joe Coleman at New Mexico State in Las Cruces. He later was the Head Football Coach for Austin High School in El Paso. Pug coached football at SMU in Dallas when they won the Southwest Conference Championship in 1966. He coached at Northwestern College in Natchitoches, Louisiana, then as Assistant Head Coach and Offensive Coordinator at Oklahoma State University. Pug also coached at Texas A&M, and later returned to both OSU and SMU before retiring from coaching in 1977. Pug then worked in sales over the midwest states for Dotco Fish & Tool Company. Over the next few year this determined man learned much about the oil and gas business through operating his own mud logging and casing pump companies. This allowed him to launch a very successful oil and gas business, B & G Productions, located in Booker, Texas. His son, Randall, bought the business in 2000. During his career Pug also owned the Show'em No Mercy Ranch in Kokomo, Texas. Pug was a member of the Lincoln Avenue Baptist Church in Woodward and had been very outspoken about his faith the past few months. He loved to golf and work with horses, but most of all he was a 'people person'. He was a man of character, devoted to his convictions and known for his words of wisdom which some called "Pugisms". His former players loved and were devoted to him. All would have been meaningless in Pug's life had he not been ushered into the portals of Heaven on Memorial Day, May 26, 2008. He was preceded in death by his parents, a brother and two sisters. He is survived by his wife, Helen, of the home; two sons, William Randall Gabrel and his wife, Lynn, of Booker, Texas and Gary Steven Gabrel of Boulder, Colorado; three daughters, Patricia Catherine Gabrel of Stillwater, Oklahoma, Celtie Leigh Johnson and her husband, Eric, of Prairie Village, Kansas and Helen Elizabeth Squibb and her husband, Jeff, of Baltimore, Ohio; 9 grandchildren, Gabrel James Lawler, Elizabeth Catherine Haynes, Ember Leigh Stabler, Christopher Allan Squibb, Farren Nicole Celtie Johnson, Tanner Dane Johnson, Angela Catherine Squibb, Raelyn Jan Gabrel and Cindy Lee Gabrel; two great granddauagters, Lily Lawler and Addison Squibb; a brother, Burl Gabrel, two sisters, Ina Mae Johns and Ima Jean Fulller; and other relatives. Memorials may be made for Gideon Bibles or Feed The Children with the funeral home accepting the funds.  Condolences may be made on line at www.johnsonsgoodsamaritanwoodward.com.