Ann Bell

Our mom, Ann Bell was born in Des Moines, IA, spent her early years in Coon Rapids and after the family moved to Omaha, attended Duchesne Academy (Class of 57) for high school. She went on to college first at Lone Mountain College in Northern CA, followed by some time at Cal-Berkley and wrapped up her degree at Creighton University in Omaha. She went to work as a medical technologist and met our dad, Ron Bell (a young hunky med student) at a local bar.

They married in 1963 and went on to have their first of three daughters Liz, in 1964. After medical school came residency for dad and the Vietnam war, and while he was drafted, he served stateside. They moved with baby Liz to Portland, OR where second daughter Kit was born in 1965, spent some time in Baltimore, MD, and then to Atlanta, GA where daughter number three, Ginny arrived in 1968. In 1969 Dad moved the family back to Omaha and we settled in the most amazing neighborhood, Country Squire Estates, with the most amazing people. Life happened, kids grew up, and in 1988 at the of age 49, Mom lost the love of her life to heart disease.

Widowed but determined… she was a warrior. She worked for several years as a substance abuse counselor at Eppley Treatment Center, took a few graduate courses in social work, and eventually in about 1990 returned to her first passion, working in the lab as a medical technologist. She worked at Blair Hospital, Clarkson Hospital, and ultimately retired in 2004 from the University of Nebraska Medical Center-lab where her passion was microbiology. She loved telling us about all the germs she would come across and the fascinating cases she would encounter.

Mom was brilliant, a member of Mensa with a passion for learning about just about anything and everything. She loved PBS along with British movies and TV, and anything science. She routinely sent us articles about neuroscience, the universe, the brain, medicine, and archeology. She always said her dream career was to be an intelligence officer with the CIA, with archeologist as her cover. Mom loved crosswords and often fussed when the weekly NY Times crossword was too easy.

As a young widow in her 50s, she traveled to Italy and spent a week on an archeological dig. She enjoyed trips to Santa Fe and the four corners area with all the archeological sites and petroglyphs, and trips closer to home to Okoboji, the Ozarks and Chicago with family. She loved music, be it everything from jazz to folk music, singer/songwriters, CCR, the Beatles and the Grateful Dead. She attended a Grateful Dead concert with Ginny and enjoyed traveling to some of Joe’s ultra marathon races to help crew with Ginny, down to Panama City to “dog sit” while they participated in a half-Ironman race and spent 2 weeks dog sitting for them in Atlanta when they went rafting down the Grand Canyon for two weeks.

She took trips to St Louis to visit Liz, Daryl, Kate and Erin, where she took in the sights; museums, music, and Shakespeare in the Park. Mom loved night baseball (especially the SF Giants) and was thrilled to take in a Cardinals game when she was in town.

Kit and Doc were fortunate to enjoy a lot of day-to-day life with her: dinners, movies, College World Series games, watching HUSKER football, and just hanging out. In her younger years she loved coming out to see new foals and calves and enjoyed bringing friends and sharing pictures of the “farm” with others.

She moved to the retirement community at Immanuel Village in 2011 after being weary of managing the big house and all the stairs. A voracious reader, she assumed leadership of the Village’s book club and played bridge weekly. Books as gifts were routine in our family both giving and receiving, sharing and discussing.

She had her share of health problems over the years, too many to list here, and passed away this week after what was to be a routine surgery that she simply could not recover from. She passed away on her terms, back on the Immanuel campus, and was able to spend several days interacting with all of her family around; Ginny and Joe playing guitar/mandolin and singing for her, watching the latest national and world news, grilling doctors and therapists about treatment plans, and making hard decisions. Her final days were quiet, restful and peaceful and with all of her family around.

She is survived by three amazing women and their families: Liz and Daryl Reeves, granddaughters Erin (Alex) and Kate (Aaron) and their pup Iris; Kit and Lon (Doc) Lemon and Pickles, Ginny and Joe Pringle and Jelly.

You did a great job mom… say hi to Dad for us when you get there.

Private family services.

In lieu of flowers, donations may be sent to Immanuel Community Foundation 1044 N. 115th St. Suite 500, Omaha, NE 68154, in memory of Ann Bell.

Link for donations: https://immanuel.com/who-we-are/foundations/community-foundation