Mary Julia Abraham's co-workers at Invacare Corp. knew her for her outspokenness. Co-worker and good friend Marc Schwartz remembers Abraham, on more than one occasion, climbing up onto the table at a business meeting to make a point more persuasively.

"That was Mary. She was passionate," Schwartz told The News.

Abraham, 44, had worked at Invacare for about 12 years, most recently as a trainer for the

region stretching from Maine to New Jersey.

She worked from her home in West Seneca, where she had moved to be close to her parents,

but traveled frequently for her job, Schwartz said.

Schwartz and Abraham were at a Veterans Hospital in East Orange, N.J., last week to help

set up a patient with new manual and power wheelchairs.

The patient, a Vietnam veteran, was so smitten with Abraham that he flirted with her

throughout the consultation. Abraham, a retired Army Reserve first sergeant, bantered back

with him and teased him about being a Marine.

At another point, Abraham and the occupational therapist took out their cell phones to

share pictures of their dogs. Abraham was a greyhound rescuer and, Schwartz noted, a member of

a women's motorcycle club.

Thursday, before Schwartz took her to Newark Liberty International Airport, they stopped by

Junior's in Brooklyn.

Abraham was lactose intolerant, but she told Schwartz, "For the best cheesecake in the

world, I'll take a risk."

Schwartz dropped her off at the airport that afternoon, gave her a hug and kiss and said

goodbye. He learned the awful news about Flight 3407 the next morning.

"Everybody that knew her, loved her. She had such a strong personality," Schwartz said.

-- Stephen T. Watson