KILMARNOCK—Kenneth Abel passed away on November 3, 2023. The son of Thomas Ammon Abel and Frances Brook Abel, he was born in Logan, Utah, on June 3, 1936. He was the last of 14 children who grew up on the family farm.
Kenneth attended Utah State University where he studied chemistry and over the course of his career, he became a self-taught biomedical engineer working to develop the first isolation room for patients with compromised immune systems, a sickle-cell anemia filtration device, and an artificial heart valve, among other devices.
He was also an artist and craftsman including building toys for his grandchild, drawing in ink pens and charcoal pencils, and carving wood. With the help of his family, he designed and built three homes and three buildings, one specifically to build a 45-foot ocean-going sailboat. The other two buildings were used to run his own biomedical research company, The Applied Biomedical Engineering Lab.
Kenneth met his wife, Rebecca Jane Tingler, while he was on his Mission for the Church of Latter-Day Saints (LDS), where he shared the gospel with folks in the southwest Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. After completing his Mission, he returned to Virginia to propose to Rebecca. They were married in the LDS Temple in Salt Lake City, Utah, on September 9, 1960. Together, they raised their two children, Lloyd and Jerian.