bell (left) died this morning at a griffin hospital. he had been battling a recurrence of his cancer and had been very sick for the past three weeks or so.
more where you would expect it at lamar's definitive news source
a personal note: when i arrived in barnesville-lamar county in 1979, dewaine bell was one of the first people i met. over the next 28+ years i never heard him utter a disparaging word about anyone - a very rare trait in today's world. dewaine loved barnesville and its people. a great man has fallen. we salute his memory and his countless achievements.
26 comments:
God Bless, I really hate that. I don't know much about Mr. Bell as Mayor, But he really looked after me in High School. Kept me out of alot of trouble when he did'nt have too. Good man! he will be missed.
ROME
He was a fair man who will be missed. God bless his family.
That's sad. Mr. Bell was a great man. Back when I was in high school, he was the band director. What I remember most about him was his cheerful demeanor. He always had a smile on his face. My condolences to his family.
Our family was sorry to hear the news about Dewaine this morning. He was a good mayor for Barnesville and a good friend who will be missed. He served the community well for many years.
Our sympathy to the family. We are praying for you.
God bless Mr. Bell's family. I worked with him at LCCHS in the office. He was always cheerful and pleasant to every one. He had the same attitude off campus too. Whereever I saw him he would take time to talk to me and always asked about my family. I will surely miss seeing him around town. Love to you Mr. Bell and your family. You will be missed! ccmp
God bless Mr. Bell and his family. He was a great man and will be missed.
Mayor Bell, You will be missed!! I had a chance to hear him speak at the event in June at the Upper Room. He said he was the Mayor for the People not the city of B'Ville. May his vision live on.
Mrs. Bell and Crystal. We Love you and May God keep you in his loving care.
Samuel L. Watts Family.
I am shocked and saddened to hear of the passing of Mayor Bell. He was band director when I was in school and, even though I never participated in band, he was always interested in how I, as well as every other student in school, was doing. And that concern continued over the years until this morning when he passed. Today Mayor Bell is looking down on us from his new home on high, still concerned.
May God bless his family, friends and loved ones in this time of sorrow.
MY PRAYERS ARE WITH HIS FAMILY AT THIS SAD TIME. MR. BELL WILL BE GRAEATLY MISSED BY ALL. WHETER HE MET YOU FOR THE FIRST TIME OR KNEW YOU WELL HE TREATED EVERYONE THE SAME. HE LOVED EVERYONE AND WAS ALWAYS SMILING WHETER HE FELT GOOD OR NOT. YOU REALLY NEVER KNEW HE WAS SICK BECAUSE HE ALWAYS ASKED ABOUT YOU AND YOUR FAMILY.HE WAS A GOOD CHRISTIAN MAN AND LEADER. SINCERLY, JIMMY AND DEBBIE HAYWOOD AND FAMILY.
I Want You To Know
by Angela (Last name unknown)
A brief moment of darkness
was all that I knew,
before Heaven's Gate
came into my view.
Loved ones and friends
I had missed for many years,
welcomed me with open arms
and many happy tears.
All the hurt, fear and pain
that I have ever known,
is gone from my life,
I am finally home.
I gazed upon the Lord's
sweet smiling face,
and for the first time in my life
I knew and felt His grace.
I know that you miss me,
but please dry your eyes.
I will always be watching and loving you
from my home in the sky.
A cool breeze on your face,
a touch of light rain,
I will send as a reminder
that we will be reunited again.
Life on earth is but one
brief moment in time,
I am finally home,
Eternity is mine.
____________________________
Our prayer's go out to Mayor Bells' family. Barnesville was truely blessed to have someone so wonderful in our lives. God Bless, Julie and Barry Knott
He fought a good fight and kept the faith, Amazing Grace has won his race, Swing wide the gates, he is finally home.
Dewaine was a man of faith, honesty and a great love of God and his family. He was such a good friend and inspiration to me. I will surely miss his smile. Love and prayers go out to Brenda and Crystal.
Kathy Smith Andrews
he inspired me
We are in Florida at Disney World and have just heard the sad news of Mayor Bell's death. Our lives have been touched by him in many ways; as a fellow teacher, shared interest in city government, fellow Rotarian, excellent role model for young citizens,we could go on and on...
We feel blessed that Mayor Bell touched our lives in so many ways.
We would like to send our condolences to Mrs. Bell, Crystal and family.
Respectfully,
Dr. J. Holland Jackson
Ms Eileen Smith
John, Elizabeth and Grace Louise Graham
Mr. Bell was a wonderful man and Barnesville was lucky to have him.
He was principal when I attended LCCHS and he was always there whenever a student needed him, with a smile on his face. He taught us not only the importance of education, but how to be better people.
Our thoughts go out to his family, he will surely be missed.
Dewayne Bell was a gentleman's gentleman; a man's man; a leader's leader. Whether you knew him as Judge Bell, Mayor Bell, Principle Bell, Teacher Bell, or simply as Mr.Bell, you knew that you were dealing with someone of the utmost integrity, sincerity, honor, grace and fairness. He was, bar none, the finest gentleman I've ever had the honor of meeting, and his life as definately made in impact on mine. Our prayers are with his family during this mournful time. To his family, I say "Thank You" for sharing him with so many. There's not a soul who came into contact with him that wasn't impacted in some way.
-Scott & Leisa Rogers, and Family, Washburn, Tn.
Mayor Bell always had a cheerful smile on his face - that's what I will remember most! He was a good ambassador for Barnesville. When my Father passed away in 2004 Mayor Bell was out of town. He travelled home to participate in his funeral. His music included my father's favorite songs and he did a wonderful job that day. It would have made my Father proud. Earlier this year Mayor Bell played his music at the Rotary Club. When he played the song "When the Saints Go Marching In" he commented that it was Emmett Coleman's favorite song! Right now the Mayor is marching into heavens gates and hopefully still playing beautiful music! My prayers are with his family.
A Gordon student was singing the National Anthem at a Veterans Day celebration and forgot the words. Mr. Bell was sitting next to me, he quietly said "sing", picked up his sax and everyone joined in..A class guy. It was an honor to know him. God Bless the Bell family.
Dwayne Bell defined honor, ethics and goodness in all his works. During what for me and most kids are the tough early teen years, "Mr. Bell" took me under his wing and pulled me through a better person than I ever would have become without him. During the mid 1970s, when he was still the band director, I witnesses him teach life lessons on fairness, honesty and judging people on their character and not skin color. Mr. Bell lead by example.
When I look back now on the things I saw Mr. Bell do for the good of his kids, I see an unselfish man who was more concerned with his "kids" than having the best band. He took a chance on putting a kid with very limited talent in a leadership role in the band, becaused he recognized at the time that I needed that challenge and sense of belonging at a critical moment in my life.
Mr. Bell treated us all equally, challenged us all to be our best, let us know in no uncertain terms when we were out of line, and cared for us like a father.
I left Barnesville after my freshman year at LCCH, and did not see or speak to Mr. Bell much after that time. Through relatives and the Gazette, I've followed Mr. Bell's career of service and always took a sense of pride in his accomplishments. It is wonderful to be able to look back on all he accomplished for his community and to see the kind words expressed here.
Barnesville is extremely fortunate that Mr. Bell kept his tremendous talents in the community. Two of my family's favorite movies are "It's a Wonderful Life" and "Mr. Holland's Opus". I always think of Mr. Bell as exemplifying the good traits of the two lead characters in those movies. While he chose to stay in Barnesville, his good works have spread far beyond by way of the thousands of kids who learned from his teaching and kindness. I aspire daily to become the man that Dewaine Bell was.
Mrs. Bell and Crystal,
Our thoughts and prayers are with you. Thank you for sharing Mr. Bell with us.
Tim Martin
Grayson, GA.
I thank God for every remembrance of Dewaine T. Bell. He epitomized the verse from Mark 12:31 “Love your neighbor as yourself.” The Lord blessed Dewaine with such a capacity to love everyone he met; he knew how to make you feel important; he built relationships –the kind that last forever.
The Lord blessed him with magnificent music ability. I am grateful to have sung with him several times as he played the saxophone. We were able to enjoy ourselves many times at school functions and weddings and we were honored to do funerals together.
The Lord blessed him with Brenda who had much love for him and faith in God. She knew God had big plans for this man and she patiently shared him with us so many times.
The Lord blessed him with Crystal who was the beauty and light of his life.
I will miss him very much but I am reminded that he will live in all of our lives because of the love he had for us –we will never forget him.
God knows all the hearts of mand and will judge each on his or her own merit. There is absolutely no doubt that Mr. Dewayne Bell's crown will be something to behold! I believe that anyone who knew Mr. Bell could consider him a true friend. There are some things in life that can't be replaced and his friendship was most definetely that and much more! I pray that God's hands and grace will comfort his family in their time of sorrow.
James McLarty & family
Of all we shared professionally, the last exchange during this year's buggy days will be remembered the most:
"Dewaine, I always loved you," to which he replied, "I love you, too."
Mr. Bell will be sorely missed. He was a wonderful and fair principal. I remember two occassions when Mr. Bell pulled me to the side and insisted that I live up to my full potential. He truly believed in me. He never allowed me to settle for anything less than the best for myself...depite the challenges in my life. His words of encouragement pushed me to accomplish personal, educational, and career goals. I truly loved Mr. Bell and believe in my heart that GOD has signed his name in the Lamb's Book of Life. GODspeed.
I cannot believe that Mr. Bell is gone! He was my band director back in the 80s. I've been away from Barnesville for some time now. He is definitely one of the people with whom I would've loved to sit down to just talk about life.
Mr. Bell was a great leader in Barnesville, a man of incredible integrity. He had the respect of all of us when we were kids. All in all he was a great man.
What a legacy this man is leaving behind.
Thank God for the resurrection of the saints. Through Christ Jesus, we'll see Mr. Bell again.
Mr Bell, Was an outstanding man and friend. I graduated in 1997 and Mr Bell was as giving us hope as our principal.I had saw Mr Bell a couple of weeks ago and we were talking and he was telling me the things that were going on with him and I had told him that I was to undergo testing on Thursday the doctors had discovered a lump and it need to be examed I was upset and he told me it would be okay I didn't take that much time to stand and talk I just wasn't up to it. On Wednesday afternoon I saw him at Ingles and he was asking if I was okay and the last thing he told me that day was to keep my head up and always look foward not to look down becausei would be giving the enemy the right to take over and to pray because through jesus christ we could take on anything and to know that it was going to be alright what ever i had to face it would be okay and I felt so much better after talking to him and he hugged me and i told him that i loved him and he told me that he loved me too. We lost a great Mayor, a man that loved our town, a wonderful musician,and a great friend Mr Bell you truley will be missed I will be praying for your family and you will forever be remembered in my heart.
Anita B:
Deuteronomy 31:6 says, "Be strong and of good courage, do not fear nor be afraid of them; for the Lord your God, He is the One who goes with you. He will not leave you nor forsake you."
Mr. Bell spoke from the heart and I know he's praying heavenly prayers for you as you are for him and his family now.
Mayor Bell was a good man, I hope that he had his heart in the right place and that GOD be with him and his family Brenda, Crystal,Dexter.
Thank you for all your support.
MartinB
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