Anna Mae Harden Bell

Mrs. Leonard V. Bell, nee Anna Mae Harden was born in McDonald Ohio January 15, 1930 the daughter of the late Douglas and Agnes (Archibald) Harden. She was the oldest of four children, Douglas, Jr., Mary Agnes and James Harden. When she was about two years old her folks moved to Allen Park, Michigan where she began her grade school education and later completed in Dearborn, Michigan. For high school she attended Mr. Camel High School near Van Cleeve, Kentucky where she became a Christian and was baptized in the river that ran by the school. That was quite a feat for her as she was afraid of the water. She graduated from Mt. Michigan. he renewed her acquaintance with Leonard Bell whom she had known since she was 12 years old and they became officially engaged at Christmas time in 1949. They were married on February 17, 1950 and lived with her folks for a few months until they bought a home at 1448 Northwood Drive in Inkster, Michigan in June 1950. There they raised 9 children who all attended the schools in the Cherry Hill School District and all graduated from Cherry Hill High School. They became members of the Wayne Free Methodist Church which later became the Westland Free Methodist Church. Anna was very active in the church activities and her husband was the organist. When her youngest child started school Anna attended nursing school and graduated as an LPN in 1975. She worked 8 years in the oncology department at Oakwood Hospital in Dearborn, Michigan but was forced to retire in 1983 due to poor health. Her husband retired that same year and they bought a home in Lakeland, Florida and established a summer home at Light House Village near Homer, Michigan where they lived until 2006 when they moved to Sun City, South Carolina to be near their daughter Bonnie. For the last 15 years of her life she was plagued with dementia and her husband was her care taker for the rest of her life. About a month before her death she fell and broke her right leg. From that point on she was afflicted with heart trouble and other complications and lived only a few weeks after that. Her brothers Douglas and James Harden preceded her in death and surviving is her husband Leonard Vernon Bell, her sister Mary Agnes (Harden) Hoke of Dade City, Florida, her son Leonard Douglas Bell and his wife Diane of Ferndale, Michigan, her daughter Bonnie Ann Bookout and husband Thomas of Sun City, South Carolina, her son James Vernon Bell of Tucson, Arizona, her daughter Carol Lynne Verkennis and husband James of Westland, Michigan, her daughter Christina (Bell) Ashley and husband Jack of Livonia, Michigan, her daughter Merry Anna (Bell) Honeycombe and her husband Dan of Charleston, South Carolina, her daughter Margaret Elania (Bell) Swoveland and her husband Lowell of Sterling Heights, Michigan, her son Dale Alan Bell of Bluffton, South Carolina and her son Gary Lee Bell and his wife Rebecca of South Lyon, Michigan; 18 grandchildren, 5 step-grandchildren; and many great grandchildren. A memorial service will be held at 11am, Friday, November 15, 2013 at Sauls Funeral Home Chapel.