Caroline Dudley Bell

CAROLINE D. BELL STAUNTON, VA.. Caroline Dudley Bell, 79, went to join her Savior in Heaven on Sunday, July 9, 2017. She is survived by her husband of 58 years, Rudolph Mardre Bell, a retired physician; their six children, Katharine Bell Kammer of Stafford, Virginia; Rudolph Mardre Bell, Jr. of Liberty, South Carolina; Sarah Bell Meekhof of Spokane, Washington; Alfred Dudley Bell of Winston-Salem, North Carolina; Andrew McIlwaine Bell of Staunton; and David Beverley Bell of Boise, Idaho; and fourteen grandchildren plus one great-grandchild. Caroline was active in a number of organizations including the Daughters of the American Revolution Beverley Manor Chapter, Presbyterian Women of Staunton’s First Presbyterian Church (where she also served as an elder), Colonial Dames of Virginia, and the Mayflower Society. She was a proud descendant of Francis Cooke and Richard Warren, two passengers aboard the Mayflower, and Roger Williams, the founding father of Rhode Island and an early supporter of religious tolerance in America. Caroline also enjoyed jogging, swimming, and genealogical research, but her greatest passion was providing a loving home for her husband and children. She was born Caroline Hettie Dudley in Johnson City, Tennessee on November 14, 1937, the third daughter of Alfred Kelly Dudley, a Presbyterian minister, and Frances Traver Dudley. She spent her childhood in Wilmington and Concord, North Carolina before moving to Decatur, Georgia to study English literature at Agnes Scott College where she received a bachelor’s degree in 1959. During her time at Agnes Scott, she met her life companion Mardre who was then a medical student at Emory University in Atlanta. They married on June 20, 1959 and lived in Oklahoma, Tennessee, Massachusetts, and Florida before settling in Staunton in 1966. Together they reared six children and three dogs and lived in the same house for more than 50 years. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. on Thursday, July 13, 2017 in the First Presbyterian Church of Staunton. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to the Association for Frontotemporal Degeneration ( www.theaftd.org ). Henry Funeral Home is handling the arrangements.  “O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin; and the strength of sin is the law. But thanks be to God, which giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” –1 Corinthians 15:55-57