Ann Bell's Obituary
Ann Bell of Memphis, Tennessee. Born October 30,1920 and departed this life on February 11, 2012, 91 years old. Visitation will be Friday February 17th from 9:30 to 11:00 am in the church parlor at Idlewild Presbyterian Church, 1750 Union Avenue, followed by the funeral service at 11:00 in the chapel at Idlewild, and burial at Memorial Park Cemetery. A lifelong resident of mid-town Memphis, Ann was graduated from Central High School in 1937 and lived her entire life in the shadow of her beloved Idlewild Presbyterian Church, where she served for many years as an elder, director of the church library, faithful Sunday School member, and member of the Hannah Circle. She attended Southwestern College (now Rhodes College) and graduated with a B.A. from Randolph-Macon Women’s College in 1941. She received an M.S. in cell and molecular biology from the University of Memphis in 1977. In 2007, the University of Tennessee bestowed an honorary Doctor of Science degree on Ann, honoring forty-four years of dedicated teaching and research at the University of Tennessee Health Science Center as an assistant professor of Clinical Laboratory Sciences in College of Allied Health Science and assistant professor in the Department of Internal Medicine. While at UT, Ann co-authored with her mentor and noted hematologist and Sickle Cell Disease researcher, Dr. L. W. Diggs, and Dorothy Sturm The Morphology of Human Blood Cells, which was first published over fifty years ago in 1956 and is currently in its seventh edition. The book is widely used to teach hematology to health care professionals in this country and around the world. Among her many notable awards was her induction in 1992 as an honorary faculty member into Alpha Omega Alpha, the National Medical Honorary Society. Ann traveled all over the United States and around the world conducting teaching workshops in hematology for medical technologists. After retirement from UT in 1992, she continued to work and teach there as a volunteer for many years. She also regularly volunteered at the Church Health Center, helping those who could not afford medical care. The four loves of Ann’s life were UT (her colleagues and the thousands of students she taught); Idlewild Presbyterian Church; her family (her nephew Lewis W. Bell (Ruth), her grand nephews Jack Bell (Goodwyn Heard) and Winston Bell, her grand niece Dabney Bell, and her sister-in-law Carolyn Prewitt Bell; and Melanie her cat. Ann was preceded in death by her parents, P.W. Bell, Sr. and Cora Lewis Bell, with whom she lived and for whom she lovingly cared until their deaths in the 1960s, and her brother P.W. Bell, Jr. Her final resting place will be by their side. Ann lived her life in ceaseless and tireless service to others through teaching, giving, and volunteering. All who knew Ann loved her and miss her. “Many women do noble things, but you surpass them all. Charm is deceptive, and beauty is fleeting; but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised. Honor her for all that her hands have done, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate.” Proverbs 31:29-31. In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation in Ann’s memory to the Sickle Cell Foundation of Tennessee, 6000 Poplar, Suite 250, Memphis, Tennessee 38119 (www.sicklecelltn.org), an organization she helped found to improve the quality of life for those suffering from a disease to which she devoted much of her professional life to research and treat. Funeral home arrangements have been entrusted to Memorial Park Funeral Home and Cemetery, 5668 Poplar Ave. Memphis, TN 38119, (901)767-8930, “Behind the Stone Wall”.
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