Recent HHS graduate dies in car crash

By: Cara Latham
   EAST WINDSOR — A Twin Rivers family is mourning the loss of a young woman whom her sister calls an "angel."
   Mary Gabriel, 18, a Hightstown High School graduate, died Sunday in a traffic accident in West Windsor. She would have been 19 years old today.
   West Windsor police said Ms. Gabriel was killed when her car struck a utility pole on Old Trenton Road and she was ejected from the vehicle. According to police, she was not wearing a seat belt, and she was pronounced dead at the scene.
   Police said they do not know what caused the accident.
   Family members said the Mercer County Community College student, who had planned to transfer to Rutgers University to pursue a career as a nurse practitioner, will always be remembered for her giving nature.
   "She loved to see the smile on the other people’s faces," said Ms. Gabriel’s mother, Suzan Gabriel. "She would do anything just to see a smile. For her, a smile is a big thing."
   And her actions portrayed her concern for others, said her sister, Sarah, 17.
   At a friend’s birthday party held in a bowling alley, no one was ordering any food, and Ms. Gabriel took it upon herself to purchase pizza for the whole crowd, said Sarah.
   "She just assumed everybody was hungry," she said. "She got everyone a pizza. She spent maybe $60" and refused to accept any reimbursement.
   Another time, when the sisters were attending an outside event in cold weather, Ms. Gabriel told Sarah she was going to the bathroom and came back with soup for her, her sister recalled.
   Sarah also remembered numerous times when she and her sister would walk to school together. The two had walked together since elementary school, as the family has lived in Twin Rivers for about 11 years.
   "I remember the first time we walked home, and we got lost," she said, adding that the two were best friends. "I know she’s in a better place, and she’s so happy right now."
   Ms. Gabriel had decided to become a nurse practitioner after switching majors a few times and taking an anatomy and physiology class, said Sarah.
   "She thought it was very interesting," she said.
   For Sarah’s 16th birthday, Ms. Gabriel bought her 16 balloons and gave them to her at school, and Sarah wants to do the same for her birthday today, she said.
   "For her birthday, I want to give her 19 balloons," she said. "She was definitely an angel, and I have no doubt about it at all."
   A wake for Ms. Gabriel was held Wednesday at St. Mary’s Coptic Orthodox Church in of East Brunswick. A funeral was scheduled for Thursday at the church. Interment was at Franklin Memorial Park in New Brunswick.