Frederick I. Bell

1938 - 2025

Frederick I. Bell
Born: July 21, 1938 in Oswegatchie,
New York
Died: September 28, 2025 in Mendota
Frederick I. Bell, 87 of Mendota, surrounded by his daughters, left this world and arrived in the presence of His Savior Jesus Christ on Sunday, September 28th, 2025.
Visitation will be held at Wasmer Funeral Home in Mendota on Saturday, October 11 th , from 11-2 followed by a service celebrating the life of Fred to be officiated by Reverend Rick Wulf.
Fred was born in Oswegatchie, New York to Irving and Ella (Winifred) Bell.
During his childhood he lived in several towns in NY including Oneida, Carthage, and eventually graduated from high school in the City of Cortland, NY, in 1956. He served in the United States Air Force from September 1956 to December 1959. Eventually, with his family, he moved from Cortland, NY, to Mendota, Il, in 1964. He was employed at Sears in Mendota for many years while also working at Wayside Press, Del Monte, painting homes, laying carpeting and tile, and other side jobs until he opened Bell's Carpeting in the oldest brick structure in town, the ICRR Freight House. In 1985 he received an associate's in liberal studies from Illinois Valley Community College. His last employment until retirement was as a custodian at Mendota High School, where he also subbed in History and Art.
From a young child, baseball was an integral part of Fred's life. He was a long time third baseman for Mendota men's softball leagues, a Little League coach and umpire. After retirement, he coached girls' softball for the Mendota and LaMoille High Schools. He was an avid Yankees fan, and a huge sports fan in general. His constants in life were watching Jeopardy, telling jokes, giving gifts, and eating at Sip-N-Snack most weekends. He was a member of the Elks, Moose, VFW, Mendota Golf Course, and Mendota Community Theatre.
During his many years with MCT, he performed, directed, and built sets for countless productions. His artistic expertise helped the club win many trophies on MCT floats in the Sweet Corn Festival parades. With friends, Fred would compete in trivia contests in Chicago and other cities.
Fred wrote several books about trivia, children's books, and plays. Being an avid Anne Frank and WWIl history buff, he wrote a play titled "Jugend Morgen" a Play in 2 Acts, which is proudly displayed in the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. Another favorite was his weekly comic strip entitled " Dusty Mopp" which was based on his experiences as a high school custodian.
Something Fred will always be known for is his artwork. He drew, sculpted, painted, sketched and designed signs using all types of medium. One of his greatest joys was to gift the high school athletes, cheerleaders, and students with beautiful portraits of themselves, usually with their favorite cartoon characters, pets, or anything they wanted in the picture. We lost count of how many he did, but it was in the hundreds for sure. Most of our families' walls are adorned with Freddy Bell originals too.
Fred's two most favorite times of the year were the June Wisconsin Dells family trips, (yearly since 2008), and Christmas, as he loved nothing more than giving and being "all together."
Although Fred was a collector of baseball cards, coins, old bills, stamps, post cards, movies, movie posters, signed autographs, books, WWII memorabilia, and pretty much everything, his greatest and most valuable collection in life was his family and friends. A quote from Fred found among his belongings was "My daughters are my treasures, my grandchildren are precious, my relatives are all closer than ever to me. I have many close friends, and I am losing them faster and faster as I grow older. I have collected and saved many things which I thought would be worth money someday, but now I realize that more than anything, my girls' love means more to me than all I've saved."
Fred was preceded in death by his parents, two infant brothers, siblings Ralph Leeder, Herbert Bell, Judith Coombs, and Delbert Bell.
Memorials may be directed to Abigail Women's Clinic in Mendota, Il.
Condolences may be sent to wasmerfuneralhome.com
He is survived by one sister, Sandra (Robert) Brown, daughters, Dawn Andresen, Shelly Bell, Joni (Brian) Zinke, Julie (Brian) McConville, grandchildren, Aimee Rock (Rick Hanson), Ashlee (Jon) Nygren, Aubree (Matt) Jenkins, Alxee DeMars (Jordan Dahlback), Derek Stockon, Kaitlyn Stockon, Brannon (Alana) Zinke, Kyrsten Zinke (Brandon Blake), Kelci (Tommy) Feathers,
Madison (Kirby) Sudaj, 13 great-grandchildren, nieces and nephews.