Henrietta “Penny” (Stewart) Ables, a resident of Murrieta. CA, for the past 2-1/2 years, passed away while in hospice care on June 29, 2024, at The Springs Health and Rehabilitation Center in Murrieta after a brief hospital stay. She was 86. Penny was born on October 28, 1937 to Ida Elizabeth (Rinker) and William Henry Stewart in Muncie, Indiana.
Penny moved to Southern California with her parents in 1955. She married Vernon Edward Ables on December 17, 1955. She graduated from Compton High School in June 1956. They were blessed with four children: Cathaleen, William (Bill), Vernon, Jr., and Matthew. Penny and Vernon divorced in March 1980. Matthew, Bill, and Vernon, Jr. preceded Penny in death in 2001, 2017, and 2018, respectively.
Penny and Vernon moved to Texas in 1958 after his discharge from the Navy. Her sister-in-law, Lottie Finch, remembers Penny as “the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.” They returned to Southern California in 1960. Over the years the family lived in Lynwood, Norwalk, and Santa Fe Springs.
After their divorce, Penny lived near her daughter for many years. She lived for 17 years at the Seasons II Senior Apartments in Lakewood, where she had friends and enjoyed caring for her great-granddaughter, Riley, until Riley could attend preschool.
In addition to her mothering and housewife roles, and after the divorce, Penny worked at Montgomery Ward and The Broadway. She attended ROP (Regional Occupational Program) in Cerritos, CA, and worked as a clerk at First Interstate Auto Leasing until it was bought by Wells Fargo. She spent the last years of her career as an Administrative Assistant with the Market Assignment Department of GTE, later Verizon, retiring on April 18, 2003.
Henrietta “Penny” Stewart Ables now joins her many loved ones who have gone before her, including her parents, William and Ida Stewart, and sons Bill, Vernon, Jr., Matthew, and many aunts, uncles, and cousins. She is survived by her brother and his wife, Larry and Sue Stewart; her daughter, Cathaleen Denise (Ables) Steele; her grandchildren, Allison Steele, Michael Steele, Cameron Sills, Trey Ables; her great-granddaughter Riley Steele; her niece and husband and family Pamela June and Rich Hoke and family.
She will be greatly missed by all. May her memory be a blessing for all the days of those who knew her.
