Shirley J. ‘Shird’ Bell

Shirley J. “Shird” Bell, 82, of Delaware passed away Thurs­day (July 5, 2012) at Grant Med­ical Cen­ter in Colum­bus fol­low­ing a brief illness.

Born on Sept. 29, 1929, in Delaware, she was the daugh­ter of the late Acarah and F. Irene (Piatt) Fraker. It was at the senior-junior prom of Willis High School, where she was first courted by her future hus­band James Bell. She grad­u­ated with the Willis Class of 1947. Shirley later mar­ried Jim on May 2, 1949, at William Street United Methodist Church and shared 63 won­der­ful years, rais­ing a fam­ily and car­ing for each other’s needs. The fact that they were both stub­born is one of the many rea­sons they got along, a kiss every morn­ing and night helped, too. Best expressed in Jim’s words; “they lived for each other.” For 20 years, Shirley worked as an assem­bler and packer for Ranco, until retir­ing in 1988. A won­der­ful cook, she also enjoyed bak­ing and can­ning. She col­lected mush­rooms in the spring, berries and fruits dur­ing each sea­son, using the trea­sures to cre­ate won­der­ful dishes. Her beef and chicken and noo­dles were the best, but it was all good as praised by her fam­ily. Sun­day after­noons were spent hunt­ing arrow­heads in her younger years. She was also skilled with the nee­dle and thread, craft­ing more than 100 quilts she shared with fam­ily and friends. Shirley also did cro­chet and sewing of all types. At times con­trary, she was gen­er­ous and a very spe­cial wife, mother, grand­mother and great-grandmother.

Those left to cher­ish her mem­ory include hus­band, Jim; chil­dren, Gary (Nancy) Bell, Ed (Rose­mary) Bell and Jane Boy­sel all of Delaware; eight grand­chil­dren, Jodie, Shad, Jamie, Clin­ton, Adam, Lori, Court­ney and Heather; 21 great-grandchildren; and sev­eral very spe­cial nieces and nephews, as well as a host of friends.

She was also pre­ceded in death by brother, Eugene Fraker; dear­est sis­ter, Patri­cia With­row; and son-in-law, Willis Boysel.

Friends may call from 2 to 4 p.m. Sun­day at the Sny­der Rod­man Funeral Cen­ter, 1510 W. William St. at Val­ley­side Drive, Delaware, where ser­vices will be held at 11 a.m. Mon­day with cel­e­brant Don Lock­wood offi­ci­at­ing. Friends are then invited to join the fam­ily in the Sny­der Rod­man Com­mu­nity Room for a meal and con­tin­ued remem­brance of Shirley. Pri­vate inurn­ment will be at a later date in Oak Grove Cemetery.

Memo­r­ial con­tri­bu­tions can be made to the Cen­tral Ohio Dia­betes Assoc. or the Amer­i­can Heart Assoc.

Con­do­lences may be expressed at snyderfuneralhomes.com.

Posted by Staff Reports Obits on Jul 6 2012. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS Feed. Comments can be made below.