Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, February 24, 1994 TAG: 9403010186
SECTION: NEIGHBORS PAGE: NEIGHBORS EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By KAREN DAVIS SPECIAL TO ROANOKE TIMES & WORLD-NEWS
DATELINE: LENGTH: Long
At age 100, she is ``the oldest participating student at Roanoke College,'' according to Melinda Cox, director for the Center for Community Education and Special Events.
Born Feb. 13, 1894, in Helena, Mont., Bell celebrated her 100th birthday with fellow senior students Feb. 17, when Roanoke College's Elderscholar Lecture Series opened.
Bell has attended the six-week lunch-and-lecture series for about six years. The series, taught by faculty members who speak on a variety of topics, is offered each semester and costs senior citizens just $45. Between 150 and 180 participants enroll each time, Cox said.
Bell, who resides in an independent-living apartment complex at Friendship Manor, also occasionally attends seminars at Hollins College. Although she drives her own car, she often employs the convenience of Friendship Manor's bus service to and from classes and other area events, particularly after she fell and broke a hip last year.
While recovering from the fall, she has used a wheelchair and walker to get around, but she is confident that she soon will regain independence.
Meanwhile, she hasn't let the fall slow her down too much. She attends St. John's Episcopal Church. ``That's really a bright spot in my life,'' she said.
She also pursues oil painting in art classes offered at Friendship Manor's studio. And she is considered enrolling in a water aerobics class there.
``They are very good about planning interesting activities here and providing a bus to take people off campus,'' said Bell, who has lived at the retirement community 15 years.
She regularly attends area symphony, opera and theater productions. Although she has moved all over the United States, lived in London and traveled throughout Europe, she said ``Roanoke has a lot of interesting things to do. I've lived in big cities like Boston and New York, where I had the opportunity to see the best [in the arts], and I think Roanoke does well for a city its size.''
Bell retired after 35 years as head librarian for Randolph-Macon Woman's College in Lynchburg. She remains on the faculty there as librarian emeritus. After retirement, she lived in Florida for a while, then relocated to Charlottesville. About that time, retirement communities started springing up. Conceding that she was getting older and had no family, she began investigating a few. Friends recommended Friendship Manor.
``I visited here, liked it and found it within my means,'' she said.
Bell grew up in Montana, but ``it wasn't as wild and woolly as people think the West is. It [Helena] was the cultural center of the state. My mother was an accomplished musician and attended the theater.''
Her father, a well-educated Congregational home missionary sent to Montana to establish churches there, was eager for his only child to broaden her horizons and acquire a cultured background.
A native Virginian, William Bell sent his daughter to live with an aunt in Harrisonburg, where she finished her senior year in high school and graduated with a class of about 15.
``That's when I first fell in love with Virginia and got acquainted with my father's family,'' Bell said.
She has only two Bell cousins left; they live in North Carolina.
She earned a degree in library science at Simmons College in Boston and a master's degree at Columbia University in New York. During World War I, she held a clerk's job in Washington, D.C., and later worked as a librarian all across the country, from California to New England, before settling in Lynchburg.
She never married. ``That's why I'm living so long,'' she joked.
It is no wonder that, as she says, she ``has a reputation for being a `goer' and never staying at home.'' When she takes time to watch television, she prefers news and game shows, such as ``Washington Week in Review'' and ``Jeopardy.'' She's also an avid reader, mostly of mysteries and biographies, and makes good use of a bookmobile that regularly visits Friendship Manor.
Staying physically active and mentally stimulated, getting out of the house and taking part in things make up her recipe for a better life. That is why she enjoys the Roanoke College Elderscholar program so much. ``It's sociable and educational,'' she said.
But beyond that, and having been blessed with lifelong good health, she has followed no special diet or special exercise regimen to reach the 100-year mark.
Reflecting on the century of history she has witnessed, which includes not only monumental changes brought on by automobiles, airplanes, telephones and other advances, but also several major wars, she said, ``Mechanical things have made life easier but not necessarily better.''
She recalls her first automobile ride. ``They were open cars then, and people wore hats and long dusters [light, protective coats] for their auto rides to keep from getting covered with dust. I sat in the front seat with the driver and was told, `Now, he's got to drive the car, so don't talk to him a lot.'''
She must renew her driver's license soon, and she is confident that she can resume driving her car once her hip has healed completely.
``I'm not giving up my car,'' she said. ``That will be the end of independence, I think.''
by CNB