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Lillian Bell
LILLIAN KELLY BELL
Iowa City
Lillian Kelly Bell, 100, of Iowa City, died Tuesday, Dec. 12, 2017, at home at Oaknoll Retirement Residence.
A service of remembrance will be held at 2:30 p.m. Sunday, Dec. 17, at Oaknoll Retirement Residence in Community Room A of the Spring Street Building.
Instead of flowers, donations in Lillian's memory may be made to Oaknoll Foundation, 1 Oaknoll Ct., Iowa City, IA 52246 or to Gideons International.
Lillian Mae Kelly, the oldest of seven children, was born on Aug. 11, 1917, in Clearfield, Pa., to G. Edward and Lucinda McFarland Kelly. She married Raymond Martin Bell on March 28, 1942, in Wilmore, Pa. Lillian's father officiated at the wedding. Lillian and Raymond met when she served him in the dining room of the YWCA in Washington, Pa., 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, Pa., until they moved to Iowa in 1995. Lillian was an active member of 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, S.C.
Lillian is survived by two sisters, Helen Hess of Lewisburg, Pa., and Wilma Wright of Oro Valley, Ariz.; three children, Carol Macomber and her husband, William, of Prairie Village, Kan., Martha Butler and her husband, William, of Elkton, Va., 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; 12 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.
Online condolences may be left for the family at www.lensingfuneral.com.
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