Rosamund (Purdy) Bell

SALISBURY — Rosamund (Purdy) Bell, known to most as Rosie, died peacefully on July 17, 2016, in her room at Noble Horizons. She was 95. 

Born in Minneapolis to Louise (Bruchholz) and Stewart Webster Purdy on Nov. 11, 1920, she grew up in Glencoe, Ill., with younger brothers Stewart Purdy Jr. and Roger Purdy. A scholar and student leader, she graduated from New Trier High School in Winnetka, Ill., in 1934. 

Following in the footsteps of both a grandmother and a great-grandmother, she continued her education at Mount Holyoke College, where she was active in theater, choir and student government. In her senior year she served as chair of the student council and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. 

Upon graduation in 1942, Rosie accepted a commission in the Naval Reserves’ newly formed WAVES program. During World War II she was stationed at the Great Lakes Naval Training Center in Illinois and the David Taylor Model Basin, near Washington, D.C., and she achieved the rank of lieutenant, J.G.

Rosie married Lieutenant Commander Frank Ellwood Bell  in Glencoe on July 7, 1945. She and Frank lived briefly in Illinois while he worked at the University of Illinois, but soon they moved East, where they lived at Williams College, then The Hotchkiss School and, finally, Mercersburg Academy in Pennsylvania. 

While Frank was coaching and teaching, Rosie raised their three children, volunteered for organizations ranging from the Scouts to Meals on Wheels, and enjoyed writing and directing musicals for children. 

In the 1960s she substitute taught at Webutuck High School in Amenia, and she worked in various capacities at the schools where they lived. In her two decades at Mercersburg, she was a librarian, dean of girls and alumni secretary. 

In 2000, four years after Frank’s death, Rosie returned to Salisbury. She took great pleasure in worshipping and serving as a deacon of the First Congregational Church, volunteering at the Tremaine Gallery at Hotchkiss and serving as president of her Mount Holyoke class. 

In 2009, shortly before her 89th birthday, she appeared on stage in Salisbury School’s production of “To Kill a Mockingbird,” in the role of Mrs. Dubose. 

Rosie was familiar to many in the town as the spry woman in her Navy uniform marching near the front of the Memorial Day parade, a practice she continued through 2013, when she was 92. 

As much as she loved reading, travel and visiting with friends, her greatest love was keeping in touch with her far-flung yet close-knit extended family. 

Rosie is survived by three children and their spouses, Frank Bell III and Mary Bell of Middletown, Md., Betsy Bell and Dan Upp of Roxbury and Charlie Bell and Kay Lindsay of Lakeville; seven grandchildren; six great-grandchildren; her brother, Stewart; Roger’s widow, Marion Purdy; and numerous cousins, nephews and nieces. 

Her family extends its appreciation to the staff of Noble Horizons for their extraordinary care and compassion. We are grateful that, in the words of a beloved relative, Rosie’s “step off this planet” was a gentle one, taken in faith. Most of all, we give thanks for Rosie’s life and love. We will miss her very much.

A celebration of her life will take place at the First Congregational Church, Salisbury, at 10 a.m. on Saturday, Aug. 6. In lieu of flowers, it was Rosie’s wish that donations in her memory be made to Mount Holyoke College, South Hadley, Mass., or to a charity of the donor’s choice.