Nancy Greene Bell

1937 - 2025

Nancy Greene Bell
11/2/1937 - 10/17/2025
Nancy Greene Bell passed away peacefully on October 17 in the Menig Nursing Home of Randolph Center, Vermont, after at least nine years of affliction by Alzheimer's disease. She was a kind, generous, and gentle person who could be firm when necessary, and she was adventurous and full of fun. Many people loved and appreciated her.
Nancy was born in Middletown, OH, the fourth of the five children of Royner Greene, whose parents immigrated from Sweden, and Ethel Johnsos Greene, whose parents immigrated from Norway and Ireland. When Nancy was still small, her father became the basketball and baseball coach at Cornell, and the family moved to Ithaca, NY. She obtained a B.S. and a Master's Degree in Education from Western Connecticut State University, and taught third and fourth grades at the Farmingville School in Ridgefield, CT. She was a highly creative teacher, and with her gentle nature and sense of humor, she led her students to achieve the high expectations she set for them. In both grades, she required them to read a book and write an essay every week; she then read each essay three times in order to give it its due. She loved her students, and they loved her. Many former students still regard Mrs. Bell as their favorite teacher ever.
She had three children with her first husband: Christopher Alan Detzer (wife Joanne Korner) of Oakland, CA, who is a tax accountant, Curtis Curie Detzer (wife Cindi) of North Conway, NH, and Boston, MA, who is a captain for American Airlines, and Katrina Detzer Costello (husband Jim) of Carmel, NY, who is a special education teacher. In 1979, Nancy married Malcolm Bell, a now-retired lawyer, in the manner of Quakers without clergy. His children are Erin Elizabeth Bell (husband Michael Cohen) of London, UK, and M. Brian Bell (partner Fara Richardson) of San Francisco, CA. Besides their five children, Nancy and Malcolm have five grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and one great-great-grandchild. Before Alzheimer's struck, Nancy was the family matriarch.
In 1990, Nancy and Malcolm moved from Connecticut to a home that they designed on a mountainside in Weston, VT. She became a docent in the town's historic Farrar-Mansur House, an assistant town clerk, and president of the Weston Women's Club. She was elected a justice of the peace four times. For eleven years, she worked part time for the Weston Priory of Benedictine monks. Her daughter Katrina got her into competitive running in her fifties, and she won a number of half-marathons in her age group. In her sixties, she ran two New York City Marathons with Katrina and Curt. Both times they crossed the finish line holding hands.
During the 1980s, Nancy and Malcolm joined the Sanctuary Movement of some 500 religious communities that engaged in civil disobedience to try to stop our government from illegally returning refugees from Guatemala and El Salvador to the death squads they had fled. Later they engaged in peaceful protests against wars in Afghanistan and Iraq that many historians now agree were not necessary.
In 2020 they reluctantly left their dream house at the behest of their children, healthcare providers, and common sense, and moved into Strode Independent Living in Randolph Center. By last October, her decline exceeded his ability to care for her; and he, Curt and Katrina moved her into memory care at Kendal at Hanover (NH). In March they moved her to Menig, which is across the street from Strode. At both Kendal and Menig, she received excellent and loving care. At the end of his memoir, Malcolm wrote to her, "It is my fondest hope that you will be you again and we shall remain together hereafter."
Charitable contributions in Nancy's memory may be made to VAMOS! in Mexico, of which she was a director for many years, or the American Friends Service Committee. Plans for a memorial service and burial have yet to be decided.
Arrangements are under the direction of Day Funeral Home.