Lucy Mae Bell

LUCY MAE BELL was born on February 8, 1937 in Washington, DC to the late Guy Williams, Sr. (1939) and the late Margaret Williams-Smith (2015). She was the youngest of three siblings. She was raised in a Christian home under the tutelage of her mother and step-father, the late Rev. Harold Smith (1996). At the early age of 6, she accepted Christ, was baptized and joined Mt. Pleasant Baptist Church in Annandale, VA.

Lucy was educated in the public school system of Fairfax County, Virginia. She first attended Manassas Regional High school for one year and then transferred to Parker Gray High school. She was very active in extracurricular activities in school. With her beautiful singing voice, she joined the school choir, participated in the drama club, and was a cheerleader. Due to her wonderful personality, infectious smile, fiery, feisty and funny disposition, everyone loved her resulting in her being voted as the homecoming queen and becoming Ms. Parker Gray of the school. Lucy was an honor roll student. She never wanted to just get by, she always wanted to excel. She graduated from Parker Gray high school in 1955 with honors.

Lucy was introduced to Kramer T. Bell by his uncle, Caesar Fenderson. She married Kramer in October, 1961 and moved to Washington, DC. From this union they became the proud parents of three beloved children, Natalie, Reginald and Nicola Bell. Lucy and Kramer spent 46 years together until he entered eternal rest in 2007.

In 1961, Lucy began attending Israel Metropolitan CME Church with her husband and officially joined March 15, 1964. She was a member of the Chancel Choir, an original member of the Missionary’s Ruby Bell Circle. She continued supporting the Missionary Society as a member of the Faith Whittington Esther Circle. She was also an original member of Stewardess Board 5. Lucy was a member of the Young at Heart, a senior community group, based at Israel Metropolitan CME Church. She had a true heart of service and was always willing to help anyone in need. She supported the SHARE food program and purchased a value food package every month for anyone in need of food.

Lucy held various jobs prior to beginning her employment with the District of Columbia School system. She was the book clerk at Truesdell Elementary School and also worked in the Admission and Registrar Office at the University of District of Columbia. After 20 plus years of combined service, she retired in 1996. All of the students knew her at Truesdell and U.D.C.

She loved seafood, especially crabs, but being the sassy lady, everyone knows and loves she ate them even though she was not supposed to. She loved all kinds of chocolate as well. She was a classy lady who was very neat and organized. She loved her beautiful clothes and shoes and loved to be impeccably dressed for all occasions. You never caught Lucy Bell not dressed to the nines. She was also a lover of classy jewelry. She had a love for beautiful birds and loved training them to talk. She always had different birds, Jim the parakeet, Reebok the longest living bird of 28 years (cockatiel), and Kiwi the conure who was her current “tweety-pie”.

Lucy leaves precious memories to be cherished by her children, Natalie D. Bell of Silver Spring, MD, Reginald S. Bell of Greenbelt, MD and Nicola R. Bell and beloved grandchild Kamron J. Cunningham of Washington, DC. She also leaves to mourn her brother, Guy Williams Jr., her sister, Althea Waddell, and four nieces Benthea Payne, Sheila Ellebie (Rick), Donna Sutton (Will), Jacqueline Scott (Charles), two nephews Rodney Smith and Guy Williams III (Arlene) along with a host of other cousins, relatives and friends.