When the first world war started she joined the Queen Alexandra's Imperial Military Nursing Service and she was posted to France, Egypt and Greece.
The same year she was employed as a matron and by 1925 she married a Methodist minister and social worker at the manse in Payneham, South Australia.
[1] In 1935 her husband began to lead the Port Adelaide Central Methodist Mission which had started in 1919.
[2] With Mabel's help it became an important resource occupying nine buildings in central Port Adelaide costing £120 a month to run.
[1] By 1941 she was arranging for deprived families to have a break at a health camp that she had created at Mount Barker.