Sister Maria Victoria Chiapparino Abrea, the widow of Elder Angel Abrea, died Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, in Salt Lake City. She was 86.
Since her baptism at age 15, Sister Abrea dedicated her life to serving the Lord and His Church. Through the years, Elder and Sister Abrea served as an example of spiritual strength in their homeland of Argentina and throughout South America.
Sister Abrea served alongside her husband throughout his call as a General Authority Seventy from 1981 to 2003, traveling to the United States, Mexico, Ecuador, the Philippines and beyond to minister to Latter-day Saints.
That pattern of consecration was established early in their relationship. In their first year of marriage and when Elder Abrea was 23, he was called as a branch president. He later served as district president and then as president of the Buenos Aires Stake — the first in Argentina — and then as a regional representative.
In an Ensign article, Sister Abrea cited her time as a Relief Society instructor and early morning seminary teacher as both challenging and faith-inducing.
“I enjoy teaching the gospel,” she told the Church News (Church News, April 18, 1981).
In 1978, the two were called by President Spencer W. Kimball to be leaders of the Argentina Rosario Mission, which, her family obituary states, was “one of the highlights of her life.”
In 1981, three years later, President Kimball asked Elder Abrea to be a General Authority Seventy — the first from Latin America — and for Elder and Sister Abrea to also serve as the first president and matron of the soon-to-be built Buenos Aires Argentina Temple. At the time, it took many Argentines 38 hours by bus to reach the São Paulo Brazil Temple.
“The temple is a dream come true for all of the Saints in Argentina,” Elder Abrea said (“Elder Angel Abrea of the Seventy,” Ensign, May 1981).
During the temple dedication in 1986, Sister Abrea expressed her gratitude for the new house of the Lord. “I hope that after the fervor of the dedication has passed, you will continue to come to the temple. We hope the temple is always full,” she said.
Maria Victoria Chiapparino was born Feb. 24, 1939, in Buenos Aires, Argentina, the only child of Nicolas and Nelida Chiapparino. As a girl, she attended Catholic school and learned to enjoy basketball, sewing, reading and baking.
At age 14, Maria began taking English lessons from a neighbor, 18-year-old Angel Abrea, who was working as a tutor to help pay for his education. His mother, Zulema Estrada Abrea, invited her to start attending Mutual activities. A year later, she was baptized a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
She and Angel Abrea remained friends and were eventually married in 1957. They soon welcomed three daughters — Patricia, Claudia and Cynthia.
In 1966, the family was able to travel to the Salt Lake Temple and be sealed as an eternal family.
In his first general conference address, Elder Abrea said “gracias” to the Lord for his beloved wife, “who has helped and sustained me, always full of faith and love for the gospel, a constant inspiration in my life” (“Gracias,” April 1981 general conference). He died in 2021 at age 87.
Elder and Sister Abrea are survived by their three daughters: Patricia Johnson (David), Claudia Banks (Michael), and Cynthia Gambill (Tyler); 11 grandchildren; and 10 great-grandchildren.
A funeral and public viewing will be Saturday, Nov. 8, at Larkin Sunset Gardens located at 1950 E. Dimple Dell Road in Sandy, Utah. The viewing will be 9:30 to 10:20 a.m. with the funeral service beginning at 10:30 a.m. It will also be broadcast online through a link available on the Larkin Mortuary website, www.larkinmortuary.com.
