POWELL, John Marshall 1913-1995

POWELL, WILSON, KIRCHNER, BELL

Posted By: County Coordinator
Date: 7/10/2009 at 23:40:20

John Marshall Powell

NORA SPRINGS, IOWA -- Thursday (Nov. 16, 1995) at the Gar-Lin house in Nora Springs, Iowa.

A memorial service is planned for 1 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 30, 1995, at the Ward-Van Slyke Colonial Chapel, 101 N. Fourth St., Clear Lake. The family will be at the funeral home one half hour before the service to greet friends.

Dad's body was donated to the University of Iowa Anatomy Department.

Dad was born Nov. 21, 1913, at Cedar Rapids, Iowa, the son of Judge Thomas B. Powell and Mary (Wilson) Powell. After high school, he graduated Cum Laude from Coe College and earned his law degree from the University of Iowa Law School.

He served his country during World War II in the Pacific, then returned to Iowa where he set up a law practice and served as Clerk of Court for Cedar County at Tipton, Iowa. It was there that he met, fell in love with, and married our mother, Dorothy Katherine Kirchner Bell Powell.

In 1956 they moved to Clear Lake, where he entered a law partnership with Thorkel E. Sondrol Jr., his law school roommate and friend.

In 1966, he left law practice and became trust officer at the First National Bank in Mason City. In 1969, the couple moved to Mason City. He retired from the bank in 1975, and in 1985, they moved back to Clear Lake. In 1991, Dorothy died, leaving dad to miss her greatly.

In 1993, dad moved to the Gar-Lin house in Nora Springs, where he met and was cared for by Linda and Garrett Crispell. The couple have become like family to dad, showing him compassion, devotion and love until his death.

Dad loved our mother, his children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren, Linda and Garrett, as well as books, learning, bird watching, good food, jazz, trading stories with his friends, cards, beauty in all forms, sports, sunsets and Iowa. However, his abiding passion was golf.

He imparted to his children a love of words rightly set, beauty, respect for our mother, the belief in justice and the goodness of people, a joy in knowledge, love of travel and adventure. He taught us the beauty of anything done well and to meet the day with a hug and a smile. We will miss him.

Keeping in mind our parents' love of books, we ask that memorials be made to the Clear Lake Public Library.

We are Dr. James R. Bell and his wife, Barbara, Des Moines, Iowa; and their children, Dr. Jim Bell and his wife, Shelly, Cedar Rapids, Iowa, and their four daughters, Terri (Bell) and her husband, Dale Halberg, Scottsdale, Ariz., and their two sons; Karen (Bell) and her husband, Tim Grangard, Waconia, Minn., and their two daughters; Sean Bell; Pat and Kristin Bell, Iowa City, Iowa; Monica Worhide and Mark Worhide.

Dorothy "Dottie" Jean Bell Roseland Puffer White and her husband, Jim, Fairfield, Virginia; and her children, Kelli (Roseland) and her husband, Rob Thoma, Virginia Beach, Va., and their daughter; Dana (Roseland) and her husband, Scott Brodt, Apple Valley, Minn., and their two sons; Jill Roseland, who followed her grandfather into the law, Newport News, Virginia.

Merry Kay Powell Hanson, Clear Lake, Iowa, and her son, John Hanson, Coralville, Iowa.

Globe Gazette 11/27/1995