Melva Bell

1931 - 2020

Melva Bell
9/23/1931 - 3/25/2020
Melva Jeanne Bell passed away peacefully on March 25th, 2020 at McKenzie Willamette Medical Center, and went to be with her Lord, Savior, Jesus Christ, and her family in heaven. She was 88 years old.
Melva was born September 23rd, 1931 in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma to Horace and Ruby Sisemore. Melva had one older sister Ruby Busse. When Melva was nine years old, the family moved to California where she attended school, graduating from Gardena High school in 1948. She attended Bible school for several years and during that time, she met and fell in love with a young cabinet maker Robert Guy Bell. They were married January 19, 1952 in Yuma, Arizona. Almost one year later they welcomed their first child Danny and over the next 12 years he would be joined by 3 more brothers and 5 more sisters. In 1969 the family packed up and moved to Eugene and Bobby went to work for Standard Oil while Melva stayed busy caring for their growing family. Melva and Bobby divorced in 1974 and Melva went to work for the Social Security Administration where she worked until she retired in 1996. It was a source of family lore that on the day she turned 65 she went to work and said, "I am retiring, right now" and never returned.
The next 17 years were some of the happiest and satisfying of her life. She was surrounded by good friends, her church and her family, all having grown and with families of their own. She always had a love of reading, and at last had the time to indulge that passion. She was an avid and devoted puzzler, crosswords and sudoku being among her favorites and she developed a real talent for quilt making, eventually devoting two complete bedrooms of her house to that. Her quilts were prized among the family and lucky you were if you owned one. As much as she was devoted to her puzzles and quilting, it was always her family and her faith that were first in her heart.
Sadly, in 2013 she suffered a stroke that left her paralyzed on her left side and unable to care for herself. She never lost her spirit, however, and insisted on attending as many birthdays, weddings, and church services as she could. While at Lone Oaks Assisted Living Center, she organized a bible study group and continued with that until shortly before her death. To the end she was the anchor of her extended family, children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, keeping them together through tough times, and if any one of them needed her, she never turned anyone away. She was a wonderful mother, grandmother, mother in law, great grandmother, and child of God. She was preceded in death by her parents, her older sister Ruby, a daughter, Martha, two grandchildren, Jonathon and Wayne Jr., and great grandchildren, Micah and Ashton but is survived by her remaining 8 children, 23 grandchildren, 43 great grandchildren and 3 great great grandchild. She was a great lady and will be missed by all of them.
A celebration of life will be held at a later date. Arrangements entrusted to Lane Memorial Funeral Home.
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