Mrs. Doris Bell remembered for her immeasurable impact on community and her 'Hancock family'

Friends, colleagues and former students of the late Doris Bell remember the longtime former educator, who died on June 26 at 92, as a gracious and caring woman who was the heart of Hancock Day School for more than 40 years.

Brenda Brown taught first grade at Hancock for 32 years and had known Mrs. Bell since 1973 when she “entered the gates at Hancock at 5526 Skidaway Road” to interview for a job. (In 2004, Mrs. Bell and her husband, Bill, retired and sold the school that had been established by Emmie Ruth Hancock, who was Bill Bell’s mother.)

All those years ago, Brown had no idea that Mrs. Bell would have “such an impact” on her life.

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“She became my boss, my advisor, my encourager, my mentor, my role model and most of all my friend,” Brown said. “I know without a doubt that God put her in my path. She was an inspiration and made you want to be better and do better. She was a genuinely good person. Her accomplishments have spoken more loudly than any praise I could give her.”

Mrs. Bell was a graduate of Savannah High School, Armstrong Junior College and Florida State University, and earned masters’ degrees in education and curriculum development. While at SHS, she met a group of women who became lifelong friends and called themselves the Knit Wits.

Up until a few years ago, the women -- including Mrs. Bell, Miriam Fulton and Ann Altman -- would go to lunch every Friday at the Savannah Yacht Club.

“They sat in a table in the corner from noon to 3,” recalled Sally Altman Bradshaw, whose mother Ann died two years ago. Ann Altman and Mrs. Bell were best friends and talked on the phone every night for an hour starting at 8:30, said Bradshaw who remembers Doris Bell as somewhat of a fashion plate who was generous with her lovely wardrobe. “After she wore something twice, (my daughters and I) got it.”

Miriam Fulton is one of the few surviving Knit Wits – “Knit with a K,” – because initially the woman got together to knit, she explained. “Doris was a wonderful person. If anybody ever needed anything, she was always right there,” Fulton said. “That was Doris’ way.”

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Many parents chose to send their children to Hancock because of Mrs. Bell’s reputation as an educator, Brown said.

“She understood children and how they learn and that they all do not learn the same way,” Brown explained. “She understood that each child was unique. She knew what type of curriculum they needed to reach their potential.”

Not only was Mrs. Bell a fine educator, she knew every Hancock child by name and knew their strengths and weaknesses.”

Former Hancock teacher and parent Margaret Davis agreed.

“She constantly impressed people with her saved knowledge of every child who had attended Hancock,” she said. “She was a remarkable person and a great mentor to me. We talked school, family and life in general.”

Brown pointed out that Mrs. Bell always referred to the Hancock staff and faculty as the “Hancock family.”

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“We were not the Hancock staff, or Hancock employees, or the Hancock community, but family, and she treated us like family. It was not uncommon for her to show up at our homes when we were sick to bring a meal. She made us handmade Christmas gifts. She lovingly prepared the food for our faculty conference day and workday lunches with beautifully set tables, flowers and decorations.”

Mrs. Bell also extended her unique kindness to many a Hancock family, including Nella Hardee Maxwell and her parents. Maxwell enrolled in Hancock in 1971 when her mother Ethelyne Hardee started teaching fifth grade.

“Not only was Mrs. Bell a mentor to my mom, she was her best friend,” Maxwell said. “She was a constant in my family until my mom’s death (after a long illness) in 1992.”

When Ethelyne Hardee was in the hospital, Mrs. Bell approached the doctor – whose children attended Hancock -- and in her eloquent manner, informed him that he was taking care of a “very special lady,” Maxwell recalled.

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“Mrs. Bell was at the hospital nearly every day for six months,” Maxwell continued. “She would be quietly sitting in the waiting room and sometimes we wouldn’t even know she was there until one of us left mom’s room. She kept up with visitors and had students make cards and pictures to brighten mom’s room.”

Mrs. Bell was with “my dad and me every step of the way during my mom’s sickness and after her death,” she added.

When Maxwell’s father died in 2017, Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Brown came to his service. When Maxwell stepped up to the pulpit to deliver the eulogy, she spotted Mrs. Bell and Mrs. Brown.

“Before I began speaking, Mrs. Bell nodded her head at me as if to say, ‘you’ve got this,” Maxwell said.

Brown said she could share volumes about Mrs. Bell but recalled one of her “sweetest memories.”

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“When a student was having a difficult day or experiencing a problem, she would take the child by the hand, and they would stroll around the Hancock campus,” Brown said. “She would stop to point out a bird or to have the child smell a flower. They would look up into the sky and view the clouds and she would finally walk over to a bench that was near the bird bath, put her arm around the child and they would talk. The child would leave with a smile on his or her face and would have received the best possible counsel or advice.”

The funeral will be at 10 a.m., Saturday, in the chapel of Fox & Weeks Funeral Home, 7200 Hodgson Memorial Dr. The burial will be at Hillcrest Abbey Cemetery East.

In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions can be made to St. Joseph’s /Candler Foundations, Heart & Lung Building, 5356 Reynolds St., Suite 400, Savannah, GA 31405 or Pooler Paws Inc., 170 Kingfisher Cir., Pooler, GA 31322.

This article originally appeared on Savannah Morning News: Hancock Day School educator Doris Bell remembered for classroom impact