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Grace Kamerling Zabel died in her home in Boulder on April 9, 2018. Born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, she was the oldest child of John Garrett Kamerling, a lawyer, and Catherine Grace Debbink, a piano teacher. Taught by her mother, Grace played the piano and enjoyed summers at the family cottage on Lac La Belle. She attended Lawrence College in Appleton, Wis., where she received a BA in psychology and met her future husband, Carroll Wayne Zabel. After their marriage in 1943, they moved to Cambridge, Mass., where she worked as an administrative assistant and Carroll enrolled in the PhD program in physics at Massachusetts Institute of Technology and worked at the MIT Radiation Lab. While in Boston, Grace had three children: Ellen Jeanne, Barbara Beth, and Garrett Edward. In 1949, the family piled into an old Ford and drove across country to begin a new life in New Mexico, where Carroll accepted a position at the Los Alamos National Laboratory. Grace was involved in various volunteer activities and in raising her children, whom she ferried to music lessons, sporting events, and appointments in Santa Fe, a favorite family destination for opera, shopping, and dining.
In 1964 the family moved to Houston, Texas, where Carroll held professorial and administrative positions at the University of Houston, and Grace entered the graduate program in psychology. After receiving a Master's degree in 1969, she worked as a psychologist in the Houston Independent School District and joined several professional organizations. During the summers, Grace and Carroll retreated to their mountain cabin near Crested Butte, Colo., where they frequently hosted their expanding family. They also traveled widely in Europe, Russia, New Zealand and Australia. Grace and Carroll both retired in 1984 and relocated to Boulder, where they enjoyed outdoor activities, concerts at Chautauqua, and events at the University.
For all who knew her, Grace truly exemplified her name. She was predeceased by her husband and her sister, Ruth Mary Klotz. She is survived by her brother Garrett John Kamerling; her children and their partners: Ellen Seale Durst and Peter Durst, Barbara Zabel and Tom Couser, and Garry and Thelma Zabel; four grandchildren: Jennifer Bajaj, Geoffrey Seale, Amber French, and Andrew Zabel; and six great-grandchildren. The family is planning a celebration of Grace's life at a later date.
Published in Los Alamos Monitor on May 6, 2018
