Howard Junior Bell, age 93, a resident of Valley Bend, WV, passed from this life early Wednesday morning, April 4, 2012, at the Hospice Care Regional Inpatient Center in Elkins. He was born Friday, January 24, 1919 at Elkwater, a son of the late Charles H. Bell and Susan Fretwell Bell. On June 16, 1952 at Bowden, he married the former Ethelyn Knutti, who survives at Valley Bend. They had celebrated fifty-nine years of marriage. Howard graduated from Tygarts Valley High School with the class of 1939, and at one time, he had been named by the local 4-h Club as the ‘Healthiest Boy in Randolph County’. He had served with the United States Navy during World War II, worked as a farmer, a Randolph County School Bus Driver for over seventeen years, and was co-owner/operator of the Dairy King in Valley Bend. He and his wife, Ethelyn, enjoyed traveling, and he was well known for his bartering. He was a member of the Valley Bend United Methodist Church. Howard is also survived by two sons, John Bell and Charles Bell, both of Valley Bend, one daughter, Benita Bell Martin Boley of Huttonsville and Warren Felix Martin, five grandchildren, Andrea Smith, Brittany Cave, Clay Bell, Frank Martin and wife, Kristol, and John Stalnaker’s son, Lindsay Martin Stalnaker and wife, Jamie, six great grandchildren, Anthony Martin, Gage Martin, Nathaniel Smith, Preston Smith, Austin Smith, and Arianna Smith, seven step great grandchildren, Justin Metheney, Dylan Metheney, Katelyn Metheney, Devan Metheney, Jerin Moore, Blacin Ware, and Kruize Ware, and several nieces, nephews, and cousins. Preceding Howard in death was one infant daughter, Jean Louise Bell, three sisters, Leta Cox, Bobbie Davies, and Leah Heckel Hammer, and a son-in-law, Charles ‘Chuck’ Martin. Visitation for Mr. Bell will be held Friday, April 6, 2012 from 6 until 9:00 p.m. at the Randolph Funeral Home, 100 Meadow Lane, Valley Bend, WV. Funeral services will be held Saturday, April 7, 2012, at 11:00 a.m. in the funeral home chapel. Pastor Mike Ford and Reverend John Knutti will officiate and interment will follow at the Brick Church Cemetery at Huttonsville. The H.W. Daniels Post #29, American Legion, the Tygarts Valley Post #3647, Veterans of Foreign Wars, and the WV Honor Guard will conduct full military honors for Mr. Bell at the cemetery at 4PM. The family suggests that memorial contributions be made to the Sound Health Research Institute (Post Traumatic Stress Syndrome), P.O. Box 267, Albany, OH, 45710. Telephone 740-698-9119.
