Funeral services have been set for a Palatine father and his son, who is a Fremd High School graduate, who were killed last month in an attack in Afghanistan.
A Celebration of Life Service for Gary J. Gabel, 56, of Palatine, will be held Friday at 11 a.m. at the Orchard Evangelical Free Church, 1330 N. Douglas Ave. in Arlington Heights. A service for his son, John Gabel III, 32, will be set at a later date, according to his obituary.
Visitations for both father and son began Wednesday and will continue through Thursday from 5 to 9 p.m. at Glueckert Funeral Home Ltd., 1520 N. Arlington Heights Road in Arlington Heights.
John and Gary Gabel were killed when an Afghan police security guard began shooting at them and a group of people entering a hospital in Kabul on April 24, according to CBS News.
John Gabel worked in information technology for several years before leaving his job to pursue missionary work, which a coworker described as "a calling," the Tribune reports.
Gary Gabel had traveled to Afghanistan with his wife, Betty, to see his son's clinic in Kabul and to visit with John, John's wife, Theresa, and the couple's one-year-old daughter, Laila, according to CBS News and the Daily Herald. ]
Theresa had been recovering in Germany after also being injured in the attack but "it is unclear where she is now," according to the Daily Herald.
Gary graduated from Crystal Lake High School in 1975 and from North Park College in Chicago in 1978. He spent the past 22 years as a benefits consultant at Group Alternatives, according to his obituary.
Get more local news delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up for free Patch newsletters and alerts.
