Frank & Patricia Gabriel

Frank Gabriel, a native of Spur, was born at the home of his mother’s parents in Alva, Oklahoma, in 1935. He graduated from Spur High School in 1953 and from Baylor University in 1957, where he was president of the student body of the Hankamer School of Business. He then joined the Army, served six months at Fort Chaffee in Arkansas, and continued in the Army Reserves for the next seven and a half years.

In 1960 Frank and his younger brother Max moved to Plainview and, along with their father, built and operated Gabriel’s Department Store and the Gabriel-Wayland Shopping Center, the first regional shopping center in Hale County. Later, the brothers invested in local farms and developed housing and office buildings in Plainview’s La Mesa Subdivision. They sold the store in 1990, and Frank began a new career as a financial adviser that continued after he moved to Colleyville in Tarrant County in December 2007.

Patricia “Pat” Cohlmia was born in Buffalo, Oklahoma, in 1939 and grew up in Wichita, Kansas, where she attended West High School. She graduated from Colorado Women’s College in Denver. In 1961 she married Frank Gabriel and moved to Plainview. They have three children and six grandchildren.

Pat Gabriel was president of the Junior Service League and a member of PEO, the Gamma Delphin Study Club, and the High Rise Investment Club. She was an active member of the First Methodist Church from 1963 to 2007.

Frank was committed to community affairs in Plainview for nearly half a century. He was president of the Plainview–Hale County Industrial Association, the Chamber of Commerce, and the Rotary Club, and he was a member of the Toastmasters’ Club.

He was a Cub Scoutmaster and served on the district committee of the Boy Scouts of America. An active member of the First United Methodist Church, Frank taught Sunday School there for 28 years, served in several official positions, and co-chaired the fund drive to build an activities center at the church.

Frank was also an active supporter of his alma mater, serving on Baylor’s Development Board and the business school’s Alumni Advisory Board.

In addition to his other business activities, he was a member of the boards of the State National Bank and the former First National Bank in Plainview. He was named Plainview’s Man of the Year in 1984.