Virginia Bell

Ginny was born in Boston, MA on December 21, 1925, the eldest child of Lillian Jacobson and Gordon Bemis of Keene, NH. She graduated from Keene High School and moved to Boston in 1943, where she worked during the war years. In Boston she met and married Francis Mattison. They were married for twenty-six years, raising their two children in Wethersfield, CT.

In 1976, she married Lawrence Bell of West Hartford, CT where they lived until his death in 2010.

Ginny was a vibrant, wonderful woman, remarkable for her kindness, sense of humor and generosity. She was interested in everyone she met and always offered a kind word or a sympathetic ear. She was a loyal friend and devoted wife, mother, and “Nanny.” She lived for her family whom she “loved with all her heart.”

She leaves her sister Joan Bemis Zecha, sister-in-law Joan Robbins Bemis and many nieces and nephews in the Keene New Hampshire area. She also leaves her children Lestyn and Robert Mattison, and their spouses Timothy O’Meara and Susan Mattison. Her grandchildren, Robert Mattison, Jr., Elizabeth Sigmon, her spouse Michael, and Colin O’Meara, and Sarah Mattison were her pride and joy, as were her great-granddaughters Grey and Wren Sigmon.

Ginny also leaves her stepdaughters, Kathryn and Karen Bell who held such special places in her heart.

A graveside service will be held on Saturday, September 20, 2025, at 11:00am in the Monadnock View Cemetery (Section J), Park Avenue, Keene, NH.

For those who wish, donations in Ginny’s memory may be made to her favorite charities, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and Doctors Without Borders.