In Memory of Charles Bell
=========================
Charles H. Bell of Capitola, CA, died of cancer January 2, 2003. A native of Minnesota, Charlie was born in Minneapolis on 10/20/23 to Eva and Charles Bell, Sr. He is survived by his only sibling, Edith Bell Anderson, and her children, Gary Anderson, Prior Lake, MN; David Anderson, Irvine, CA; Sharon Anderson, Lake City, MN; and Barbara Weaver, Van Etten, NY. Of his many friends, he leaves a dear friend, Ron Wander, of San Francisco, CA.

Charlie was an educator of foreign languages in Minnesota, Illinois, and California for over 40 years, having earned a BS in Education and an MA in French Literature from the University of Minnesota. He retired as “un bon vivant” after 27 years of teaching at Cabrillo College in Aptos, CA. Among the many languages that he studied, he taught Mandarin Chinese, Russian, French, and German. In addition to his language career, he served in the US Army in WWII, was awarded the Combat Infantry Badge for service in the Philippines, attained the rank of major, and later served in US Army Reserves for 24 years.

During his Cabrillo career, Charlie volunteered for the Cabrillo Chapter of Alpha Gamma Sigma (AGS) as Student Advisor, later as Advisor Emeritus and Advisory Board Secretary, as well as Chairman of the AGS Bylaws Revision Committee at the state level.

After retiring, he joined the California Retired Teacher’s Association (CRTA), where he founded the Cabrillo College Foundation’s CRTA Division 7 Endowed Fund, which provides scholarships to students in the field of education. This fund has been renamed the Charles Bell Memorial Endowed Fund. In CRTA Division 7, Charlie held many offices, including Co-President, Recording Secretary, Financial Secretary, Chairman of Division 7 Scholarships, and Parliamentarian. He also served as Co-Historian at the state level. Known for his meticulous attention to detail, Charlie studied parliamentary procedure as a member of the Mu Alpha Unit of the National Association of Parliamentarians and was in charge of Pacific Area Educational Features. Never idle, he spent his spare time learning several other languages, assisting with AGS, CRTA, and Mu Alpha activities, donating to a number of charities, spending weekends with friends in San Francisco, and making a yearly pilgrimage home to Minnesota each summer. With his great love of classical music, one might have found him singing entire operas by heart or sitting at a piano, playing his favorite music from memory, and, with his yen for languages, he made a point of learning the language of anyone he met and could often be seen bringing down the house with his subtly ingenious plays on words. He will be greatly missed by all.

Donations to the CRTA Division 7 Charles Bell Memorial Endowed Fund can be made to the “Cabrillo College Foundation (Endowed)” and sent to Edwin Taylor, 3400 Paul Sweet Road, Unit C202, Santa Cruz, CA 95065. Donations to the AGS scholarship fund can be made out to “Alpha Gamma Sigma (Charles Bell)” and sent to Billee Paul, Cabrillo College, 6500 Soquel Dr., Aptos, CA 95003.

A memorial service will be held on Wednesday, March 5, 2003, 2:00pm, at the Sesnon House on the Cabrillo College campus. For directions, call Cabrillo at (831) 479-6100.