David Bell III

Survivors include his loving wife, JoAnn (Macalla) Bell, son Scott Vincent Bell, daughter Terri Luann Larkin, husband Kevin Larkin, and their children Jonathan, William, Christopher and Nicholas. In addition, stepchildren Kathy (Macalla) Bader, husband John Bader, son Sean, Christine Macalla, and J. Douglas Macalla, wife Karen and their children Clayton, John, and Connor.

He was preceded in death by his parents David Bell Jr and Lola Lafern Bell, and his sister Mary Louise Bell.

David spent most of his childhood in San Antonio, TX where his parents influenced his life. His father was a Master Mechanic and Foreman of the S.A. Transit co. David's Mother was a schoolteacher in Bandera Texas. She later attained a BS degree in Chemistry and continued teaching HS chemistry. Both parents were amateur geologists and Dad was responsible for the identification of Dinosaur tracks in Bandera TX.

David was a Graduate of Brackenridge High, San Antonio College (Assoc. in Science), and Trinity University with a BS and Master’s degrees in Chemistry. He completed many courses at UTA, St. Mary’s Univ., Columbia Univ., UC in CA, and SHSU in Huntsville.

At the age of 24, David petitioned the Harlendale Lodge #1213 in San Antonio, to study Free Masonry. (Dave's father was a Master Mason.) Dave studied and became a 32nd Degree Mason in the Scottish Rite Fraternity. His membership was transferred to Clear Lake Lodge #1417 where he was a founding member. He eventually was honored as a 50 yr. + member of both the Masonic Fraternities-Clear Lake Lodge 1417 and the Scottish Rite of Freemasonry in the Valley of Houston.

After graduation, David volunteered to serve in the US Air Force during the Korean War. He enlisted as a Second Lieutenant on a direct commission and attended Officers Training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. He was assigned to Air Training Command in Albuquerque as Special Weapons Officer and was then sent on to Electronics Training. He eventually moved to Denver where his unit was in charge of Special Weapons Training, and then was assigned to the Navy where he completed training as an Explosive Ord. Disposal Officer.

David received an Honorable Discharge as a First Lieutenant and remained in the Reserves for 10 years.

After his discharge from Air Force, he became the quality control chemist for the Pearl Brewing Co. Later to be employed by at Kelly Air Force Base as a Nuclear Physicist where he studied nuclear aircraft. He was assigned to develop a facility to handle radioactive materials. David was also influential in the establishment of the Reliability Regulations used by the Air Force.

In the early 60's David was employed by Martin Marietta in Baltimore MD. He was in charge of the design of development and testing of SNAP series Nuclear Reactors. He developed a design for thermo electric couples and applied for the Patent entitled Wire Cloth Bonding Technique. After Martin Marietta, David was employed at NASA as an aerospace engineer. He was a pioneer in the development of the fuel cell elec. power systems used on the Apollo spacecrafts. He was promoted to Head of the Power Systems section for NASA. He was the recipient of many NASA awards with one being most special to him-The Presidential Medal of Freedom given by President Nixon. After the Apollo program, David was involved with the Shuttle Spacecraft power generator systems, and after the successful space flight of the Shuttle spacecraft, he retired from NASA in 1980.

David was very active in Civic affairs- president of the Nassau Bay Civics Club, VP of the Space City Aquatics Club, President of NASA Employer’s assoc., President of the Baywind Condo Assoc. and President of Tower Oaks Civic Club.

In the early 80's David began another career in Real Estate as salesman and in '85 he attained his Brokers License establishing a Brokerage firm named Bellco Properties Inc. He was involved with property mgmt. as well as home repairs. It was during this time he met his future wife, JoAnn Macalla, later to be married April 21, 1990.

During the 90's Dave & JoAnn operated a B&B in San Antonio located in the Historical section of the city. They later acquired a small ranch in Weimar, Texas where they raised cattle and had a few horses, JoAnn's passion. In 2001, they moved back into the Houston area where they both managed their real estate properties.

A private graveside service for family will be held at Forest Park East, 21620 Gulf Fwy, Webster Texas, 77598.

In lieu of flowers, the family requests with gratitude that memorial contributions in memory of David Bell III be made to: Scottish Rite Hospital for Children, P.O. Box 199300, Dallas Texas 75219-9842