Earnest Charles Bell

Earnest Charles Bell was born in Altoona, Pennsylvania on August 16, 1931. He was the eldest of three children of Charles Durbin and Anna Stella (Gagnon) Bell.

He married Joyce Ann Staley on June 11, 1954 in Phoenix, Arizona. They became parents of two children. Earnest served in the United States Air Force during the Korean War and Viet Nam.

Earnest received his BA in economics from Park College in Kansas City, and later his MBA from Central State University, Edmond, Oklahoma.

He worked for the Department of Defense with the United States Air Force as a logistician, retiring in 1994. Earnest had a life-long interest in the stock market.

Earnest passed away at a Moore, Oklahoma healthcare facility on Tuesday evening, April 21, 2020 at the age of 88. He was preceded in death by his parents, and one brother, Ronald H. Bell.

He is survived by his spouse of 65 years, Joyce, of their Norman, Oklahoma home; their daughter, Julia Ann Bell, MD and her spouse Celia Grohmann of Missoula, Montana; son, Earnest Charles Staley and his spouse Debra Lynn (Meehan) Bell of Norman, Oklahoma; sister, Lorraine (James) Tura of Pepper Pike, Ohio; sister-in-law, Barbara (Staley) Johnson of Kingwood, Texas; grandson, Earnest Charles Bell III; and nieces and nephews.

Earnest was a life member of the Golden Rule Masonic Lodge #90 of Topeka, Kansas.

Masonic funeral rites: Monday, April 27, 2020, 5:00 pm, Chamberlain Funeral Home, Mound City, Missouri. Interment with military rites: Benton Cemetery, Mound City. Memorials: Charity of donor's choice.