It is with great sadness that we announce our amazing mother, Barbara Lydia Bell, passed away peacefully in her home among family on Sunday, January 15, 2023, at the beautiful age of 87.
As we sit here with the inevitable task of writing our mother's obituary, we realize that self-proclamation of achievements was never my mother's forte. If you knew our mother, it wasn't the past that interested her, it was the present.
She was born in the Bronx on June 14, 1935, to Lydia and Fred Brummer. She moved to a dairy farm near Jackson, New Jersey when she was still young. The farm is long gone, but when we drove on 195, she would have us lift our feet and exclaim that we were driving through her old living room! Soon after, she moved close to the beach in Long Branch with her parents, sister Joannie, and brother Robert for a childhood full of fishing and sailing!
After graduating from Long Branch High School, she met our Hawaiian father, who was in signal school in Fort Monmouth. They met on a double date at an ice cream shop with Rosina Macstudy – her best friend to this day. They married November 6, 1954, and built their first of many homes in Oceanport. Mom would laugh and say, every time I got pregnant, we had to build a bigger house. She also said she needed more room for her shoes!
Mom worked for the phone company for a few years and then Sears where she was a runway model for bathing suits, shoes, and hats of all things! Then she needed a job that would coincide with the kids' schedule. So, in 1969, she became the famed Oceanport school bus driver! She drove generations of Oceanport children with love and smiles! She even saved a few lives along the way, as we were told. She drove for over 45 years. Even after “retiring” she continued to drive for Shore Regional until June 2018 and loved every minute of it. She was PROUD! She would say it does not matter what you do, just do it well. If you sweep floors, then be the best sweeper they have ever had! She truly lived by those words.
Mom had a large group of female friends who named themselves the Knitters in 1967. They used to get together weekly in a perfect rotation of each other's homes to eat, drink, converse, and on occasion "knit" something. They were all members of Little Monmouth Beach Club and had their famous circle of chairs all summer long! Our entire lives were entwined with these wonderful women and their families and still are to this day.
To say she was an incredible mother and human being is an understatement. She loved all her family equally. Never missing a game, meal, party, or hug! We were happy to share her, in life and now beyond.
And as we close, we remember after our father passed, she told a friend, “Being at something happy with family is the best remedy for sadness.” So, we will continue to gather whenever we can, think of her often and smile.
Mom was predeceased by her parents, Lydia and Fred Brummer, brother Robert Brummer, sister and brother-in-law Joan and James Slattery and loving husband, William Keawe Bell Jr.
She is survived by her six children, William K. Bell III and Lucille Magliaro, Fred J. Bell and Nancy Bell, Barbara A. Smith and Michael Smith, Michael S. Bell, Thomas C. Bell and Dawn Watts, and Cynthia Innacelli and Anthony Innacelli. Also, by her six grandchildren, Jaclyn, Jordan, Zach, Hayley, Michael and Daniel along with one great grandchild Vincent, sister-in-law Judith Brummer and many nieces and nephews.
There will never be another...
Barbara Lydia Bell
June 14, 1935 – Jan 15, 2023
Relatives and friends are invited to visit from noon to 4 pm Sunday, January 29, 2023 at the Fiore Funeral Home, 236 Monmouth Road, Oakhurst, Ocean Township. In lieu of flowers, donations in her memory may be made to the Port-Au-Peck Chemical Hose Company and or Oceanport First Aid Squad. For condolences, please visit www.fiorefuneralhomes.com.