W e are grateful for the loving kindness that you have shown through your prayers and deeds. You brought us comfort

during a time of trial. May God bless and keep you.

The Family of Bertha Mae Bell

Interment Calvary Cemetery

5239 West Florissant Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63115

RepastImmediately Following Burial

Ferguson Heights Church of Christ

1239 North Elizabeth Avenue

St. Louis, MO 63135

PhotosFront Cover: Bertha celebrating her 70th birthdayInside Left Panel: Bertha; Bertha’s mother, Tweet; Bertha’s school pictures and Bertha and Hubert with Velma, Linda and Deborah Inside Middle Panel: Bertha and Hubert, Bertha and Velma, Bertha and DeborahInside Right Panel: Bertha and Yolanda, Bertha and Jeanine, Bertha and LisaServices Panel: Bertha and SantaAbove: Portraits of BerthaBelow: Linda and Bertha

www.LifeAfterWords.com

Celebration of Life for

BerthaMae BellSaturday, April 19, 2014, 9:30 a.m.Ferguson Heights Church of Christ

1239 North Elizabeth AvenueSt. Louis, MO 63135

Minister Conley Gibbs, Jr.

Musical Prelude

Processional Prayer

Scripture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ken Anderson2 Corinthians, 4:16-18

Prayer . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ken Anderson

Musical Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Owens “His Eye Is On the Sparrow”

Acknowledgments and Condolences . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Nova Goins

Musical Selections . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Owens“Everybody Will Be Happy Over There”“Hard Fighting Soldier”

Tribute to Momma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Daughters

Tribute to Grandmomma . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Grandchildren

Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Friends & Family

Eulogy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Minister Conley Gibbs, Jr.

Musical Selection . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Brian Owens“I’ll Fly Away”

Benediction

Recessional

Celebrating THE

LIFE OFBerthaMae BELL

APRIL 6, 1933 - APRIL 14, 2014

It was April 6, 1933, in the aftermath of the Great Depression that Bertha Mae Williams was born

in Sunflower, Miss. and was raised in nearby Greenville, Miss. Her parents, Moody Barrow and Ella Bernice “Tweet” Williams were

little more than children them-selves when they welcomed her into

this world. Ella Bernice would go on to become a bird lover, a great cook, seamstress, a wife and homemaker and sing in the church choir, but she would never have any other children besides Bertha.

Becoming BerthaIn July of 1944, Bertha, her mother Tweet, her aunt Alice Easter (“Bunt”), and her grandmother Pricilla (“Mom”), left Greenville to join several fam-ily members who had sought their fortunes “up north” in East St. Louis, Ill. and St. Louis, Mo. Her uncle, Rodger Darrow Williams, along with his wife, Doris Williams, of East. St. Louis, took the newly arrived family members in. She was 11 years old.

When Bertha arrived in East St. Louis, she resumed her grade school education at Dunbar School. More than 50 years later, she warmly remem-bered her math teacher, Mrs. Nelson, music teacher, Mrs. Nash, and English teacher, Mrs. Collins. She was grateful to the speech teacher who helped her overcome stuttering. Her caring teachers inspired her to complete high school. Bertha learned and often said, “Nothing fails but a try.”

The families lived together for approxi-mately three years before mov-ing as a unit to a two-family flat in St. Louis. After moving to St. Louis, Bertha attended Sumner High School, the only school for Negroes west of the Mississip-pi, until she graduated in May 1953. This was a very proud moment for Bertha, who supported and valued education throughout her life.

Her Own FamilyAt the age of 20, she met and fell deeply in love with the handsome and romantic Hubert Bell, Sr., who had made his own way north from Wilmot, Ark. He was charming and courted her

with delicious soul food from Crown’s Candy Kitchen. They got married on Hubert’s birth-day, August 14, in 1954. Bertha’s Aunt Ora, who was known for her skills as a seamstress, made her entire wedding wardrobe and ac-cessories. Bertha said that her wedding day was one of the happiest days of her life.

Hubert and Bertha bought their first home in St. Louis city where they raised six daughters. Bertha always took pride in the fact that Hubert was a good provider and she did not have to work while rais-ing her girls. Bertha’s and Hubert’s long marriage ended in divorce after 33 years.

She truly believed that “children make a family,” so she was delighted when she and Hubert had six daughters: Deborah, the helper; Velma,

the curious one; Linda, Momma’s quiet understudy; flamboyant Lisa; Yolanda, who makes everybody laugh, and Jeanine, the baby. Bertha always introduced her six girls before she introduced herself. She described being a mother as her most important accomplish-ment and role in life. Although each daughter would protest that her mother had a favorite, they each knew that the favorite child was always the one who needed

her the most at the time. She demonstrated this throughout her lifetime, loving all of her children deeply and equally in good and bad times.

The Perfect SmileFor more than 25 years, Bertha was a stay-at-home mother and homemak-er. Her daughters loved that. They knew that when they finished the cold walk from school, their home would be warm, clean without too much effort on their part, and that Momma would have a hot meal waiting for them. They also knew they would al-ways have clean clothes ready to put on, although sometimes with a little too much bleach in them.

She took good care of them, always with a smile.

“Momma was our alarm clock until we were well past the time when we should have been waking ourselves up. But she didn’t give that up,” said Deborah, the old-est daughter. “Our mother would attend all of our school activities – our graduations and special school events. She would be very serious when we were out of line and full of pride when we did things well.”

But always, there was Bertha’s smile. She was known in- and outside her family as the lady with the beautiful smile. She beamed with motherly pride as she took every opportunity to introduce her girls by name and birth order. To Bertha, each of her daughters was as much a part of who she was as her radiant smile.

Love Lives OnBertha took comfort in the sweet rhythm and the promise of the Twenty-third Psalms. She first heard and heeded the voice of the Lord when she was 18 and she was baptized at Southern Mission Baptist Church in St. Louis.

She was baptized again at the Berkeley Heights Church of Christ

in 1985, where she attended until her health began failing in 2002. Bertha loved her Berkeley Heights church family and had a particular affection for Brother David Lane and Sister Stephanie Lane, who had become like an extended family to her.

Grateful for the love with which she surrounded them, are her six daughters: Deborah Bell, Velma Bell and Linda Barnes, all of St. Louis; Lisa (Herman) Hanner, of Colorado Springs, Col., Yolanda Bell, also of St. Louis, and Jeanine Clay, of Swansea, Ill. She will be missed by her grandchildren, Kelli Barnes, Jamila Pittman, Justin McElveen, Jasmine Brass, Merlin Bell, Raven Brass and Melia Betts, and her great-grandchildren, Jordan Barnes and Kai Mason. She was preceded in death by her beloved mother, grand-parents, aunts and uncles.