Joan D. Bell FREEPORT – Joan Bell, beloved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, cousin, friend, and holiday fashion icon, died unexpectedly on Sept. 26, 2024 at the age of 91.
Born in Jamaica, Queens, N.Y., on Feb.
5, 1933, Joan was the only child of Walter and Ethel Meyer Husmann, and was the apple of her daddy’s eye. Employed as a teen at a marine insurance underwriter, she took a shine to a coworker, Albert Bell. Al joined the Navy, and while home on leave they were married in Jersey City on Nov.
24, 1953. For the next two decades, Joan and her growing family toured America, with posts in Texas, Tennessee, Hawaii, California, and ultimately, Maine, while giving birth to at least one of her children in each of those posts. While some might collect souvenirs and tchotchkes from such varied life experiences, Joan often joked that she instead collected children “because they are easier to pack.
” A consummate Navy wife and famously dedicated friend, Joan was first and foremost the devoted mother of the Bell children. In 1973, with no driver’s license, no meaningful work history, and eight children between the ages of 5-18, Joan became a single mother. The superhuman tenacity and constitution that she showed in the coming years are perhaps the greatest gifts that she passed on to her children.
The Bells’ fierce commitment to one another is the product of Joan’s intense protective instincts. She is survived by a large and adoring family, and countless friends and.