My Friend, Joe Bell, Died Yesterday

JOE BELL PASSED AWAY ON THANKSGIVING
As some of you already know from having read Hannah Fry's article from the Daily Pilot online today, HERE, my friend and former Daily Pilot columnist, Joseph N. Bell died on Thanksgiving Day at the age of 92 from the ravages of age, including the recent onset of Parkinson's Disease.


 
HE RETIRED ALMOST TWO YEARS AGO
Joe Bell was a columnist for the Daily Pilot, and the Los Angeles Times before that, for more than two decades.  When he retired from the regular rotation of columnists at the Pilot almost two years ago Mike Reicher wrote about him HERE.  I wrote about his retirement HERE.  Bill Lobdell, currently the Communications Director for the City of Costa Mesa, former editor of the Daily Pilot and, at that time, a columnist, wrote about Joe's influence on his life, HERE, and a couple of his very close friends also wrote short notes in the Mailbag, HERE.

DEPTH AND BREADTH
Joe was a fascinating man.  He and I couldn't have been farther apart politically, but I grew to know him well and admire his skills as a writer and his values as a man. During his career, as mentioned in Fry's article, he wrote extensively for many national magazines and, locally, for the Los Angeles Times and the Daily Pilot.  He interviewed and wrote about stars like Marilyn Monroe, Paul Newman, Joanne Woodward, John Wayne, Julie Andrews, Shirley Maclaine, Jimmy Stewart, Jack Lemmon, Bob Hope, Mary Tyler Moore, Liza Minnelli, Debbie Reynolds and many others.  He interviewed Norma McCorvy - the "Jane Roe" of Roe v. Wade fame - and wrote about her at the beginning of that dramatic time in her life and, three decades later, when she disavowed abortion and began speaking out about it.   Before he retired a few months before his 90th birthday he was still pumping out pithy prose, skewering the rascals around us and doing it with such flare that those of us who pretend to write can only smile in awe-struck admiration.

THE STORY THAT DIDN'T MAKE PRINT
Perhaps the most fascinating element of his long, illustrious career included a piece that he wrote that DID NOT get published.  During the Patty Hearst kidnapping , HERE, Bell was on assignment for the Hearst Corporation's "Good Housekeeping", at the Hearst family home in Hillsborough, CA when her parents learned that Patty may have been killed during a police raid on a house in South-Central Los Angeles.  Five Symbionese Liberation Army revolutionaries who had kidnapped her died in the raid, but it turned out she was not on the scene.  Bell wrote the story of her kidnapping, but Randolph Hearst killed it because it contained some information he did not want to make public.

MY LINKS TO JOE
As I've written before, I have a couple links that drew me to Joe.  He was a great friend of my ex-boss, former Newport Beach councilman Don Strauss.  I met Joe on a tennis court where he and Strauss had been soundly thumped during the Adoption Guild Tournament by a couple of whippersnappers.  He was an unhappy, but gracious loser.  And, Jill Angel - sister of his second wife, Sherry, was a dear friend of my best friend, Larry Moore.  She was a CHP officer and competitor in his "Toughest Cop Alive" competition before she moved up the ranks at the CHP.  You will also remember Jill as a traffic reporter for radio station KNX-1070.

SEVEN INTO SPACE
I didn't know Joe at the time, but when we lived in Houston we journeyed to the Johnson Space Center and, along with other souvenirs, we purchased a book called, "Seven Into Space" - which was written by Joseph N. Bell!  We've still got it somewhere in our library.  That was Joe's account of the seven original Mercury astronauts and is still highly-sought as a seminal reference piece about the early stages of the United States Space Program.

POKING POLITICIANS
Joe and I became friends as I wrote to him about columns he had written about local politicians and other issues.  His body of work includes hundreds of columns in which he took on the likes of John Moorlach, HERE; Allan Mansoor, HERE; politicians in general, HERE and HERE; and the then-new Costa Mesa City Council, HERE.

PATRIOTIC, MIDWESTERN VALUES
A patriotic guy, Joe Bell was born on July 4, 1921 and enjoyed celebrating his birthday along with that of his country every year.  He wrote about those celebrations frequently, HERE, for example.  A member of the "Greatest Generation", he shared many of the simple values of his peers and wrote about them, HERE.  A Midwesterner, he loved basketball and baseball.  He wrote about the former HERE and the latter HERE - and many more times, too.  He reveled in the exploits of the University of California - Irvine Anteater basketball program.  He taught at that school for two decades.  He agonized when his beloved Angels failed, year after year, but never gave up hope.


ENJOYING THE SUCCESS OF OTHERS
Joe loved his family and friends and wrote often about their successes in life.  He wrote a very nice piece acknowledging the publication of Bill Lobdell's book, "Losing My Religion", HERE and of his visit to the theater to see his step-son, Erik Patterson's first play performed, HERE.

AND TRANSITIONS
Joe also wrote about transitions - the passing of dear friends and the dogs that filled his life with joy.  However, a column he wrote about the passing of his first wife, Janet Hartman Bell, HERE, truly shows you the depth of feeling this man had for those around him.

SHARING THE LOVE
On July 3, 2011, my wife and I were invited to join a large group of Joe's family and friends to mark his 90th birthday.  That photo at the top of the page was taken at that event, showing him "in the spirit of the day".  We heard his daughters tell stories of growing up with their Dad - of the road trips and the special times in their lives.  We heard very close friends talk about the Joe they knew and loved.  There was no small amount of teasing going on that day and it was joyous to watch the love flow.

(Joe Bell and close friend, Betsy Flynn, enjoying strawberry shortcake)

REST IN PEACE, MY FRIEND
It was sad to see my friend decline over these past many months.  The debilitating ailments that he had to confront gradually won the battle with his body, but his mind never gave up.  He remained sharp and concerned about events that affect us all.  I will miss him - his wisdom, wit and friendship - but I won't forget him.  According to his family, Joe will be buried in his home town of Decatur, Indiana soon and a Memorial Service will be planned locally early next year.  In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to The Donald A. Strauss Scholarship Foundation, 4931 Birch Street, Suite 2, Newport Beach, CA 92660.

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