Lillian Kelly Bell

BELL, MCFARLAND, KELLY, HESS, WRIGHT, MACOMBER, BUTLER, LOWE, FRAETIS, TUXILL

Posted By: Sarah Fletcher (email)
Date: 12/26/2017 at 14:05:04

Lillian Kelly Bell, 100, of Iowa City died Tuesday, December 12, 2017, at home, Oaknoll Retirement Residence.

A service of remembrance will be held at 2:30 PM, Sunday, December 17th at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Community Room A of the Spring Street Building. In lieu of flowers, donations in Lillian’s memory may be made to Oaknoll Foundation, 1 Oaknoll Court, Iowa City, IA 52246 or Gideons International.

Lillian Mae Kelly, the oldest of seven children, was born on August 11, 1917, in Clearfield, Pennsylvania to G. Edward and Lucinda McFarland Kelly. She married Raymond Martin Bell on March 28, 1942, in Wilmore, Pennsylvania. Lillian’s father officiated at the wedding. Lillian and Raymond met when she served him in the dining room of the YWCA in Washington, Pennsylvania, where Lillian worked as a waitress and Raymond often came to eat as a young bachelor professor of physics at Washington and Jefferson College.

Lillian was a devoted wife and mother. She and Raymond lived in Washington, Pennsylvania until they moved to Iowa in 1995. Lillian was an active member of the First United Methodist Church in Washington for more than 50 years. She taught Sunday School classes and was a founding member of the Sew ‘n’ Sew Circle. Lillian and Raymond traveled throughout the U.S. and Canada by car with their children, and these travels continued after their children had grown and left the family home. Their favorite annual trip together each fall was to North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Lillian is survived by two sisters, Helen Hess of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania and Wilma Wright of Oro Valley, Arizona; three children, Carol Macomber and her husband William of Prairie Village, Kansas, Martha Butler and her husband William of Elkton, Virginia, and Edward Bell and his wife Rebecca of Iowa City; five grandchildren, Lauren Lowe and her husband Andrew, Kelly Fraetis and her husband Charles, Jeff Butler and his wife Molly, Adam Bell and his wife September, and Justin Bell and his partner James; twelve great grandchildren; and her beloved companion Meghan McDonough.

She was preceded in death by her husband, her sister, Muriel Tuxill, and three brothers, Dwight Kelly, Lee Kelly, and Ronald Kelly.

Lensing Funeral & Cremation Service
 

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