Cecil Bell, a business and community leader in Conway, died Sunday at the age of 96.
Bell was the last surviving founding member of the Conway Development Corporation, according to Bill Hegeman, former CDC board chairman.
"Cecil was a very low-key person. Very involved, but very low-key," Hegeman said. "As we moved through the years after Cecil had gotten off the board of directors, I would visit with him about something the CDC had accomplished and thank him for the work the original group had done. He was always very low-key. That's just the way Cecil Bell was. He was a very good friend of Conway. He really did a lot for Conway. He and his wife, Bertha, were both very involved. He will be very missed."
Michael Bell, a son of Cecil Bell, said his father was involved in many community efforts. He was a 50-year member of the Conway Area Chamber of Commerce, a lifetime member of the Faulkner County Historical Society, a member of the Optimist Club and served 28 years on the board of directors of First National Bank. He also served eight years on the Conway School Board and was a longtime member of First Baptist Church of Conway, according to his obituary.
"He was a real booster of Conway," Michael Bell said. "In the late 40s, early 50s, he developed an interest in the Conway Industrial Development Corporation. He was one of the founders."
Michael Bell added, "The main thing I think of when I think of his life is it was a life well-lived. He worked hard. He took some chances. He was friends with everyone he met."
In his youth in the 1920s, Cecil Bell and all his brothers and sisters traveled every day by wagon from the Pleasant Valley community to the Cedar Park (now Cadron Settlement Park) area to work in the cotton fields, Michael Bell said. He married Bertha Jewel Tyler in 1932. In the early days of their marriage, he worked for the Faulkner County road department, and later for the state road department. They had four sons, Jerry, Jim, Michael and John.
In the early 1940s, Cecil Bell traveled to New Mexico and discovered a business idea that he thought would work in Conway selling butane in tanks. He started Bell Butane Gas Company, which he ran for several years, Michael Bell said. In the 1960s, natural gas lines were coming into the area, and Cecil Bell saw another opportunity. He started Bell's Men's Store in downtown Conway, Michael Bell said. About six years later, Cecil Bell and his wife, Bertha Jewel, built the Holiday Inn. They sold it in 1972 to have more time for family and antiquing, Michael Bell said.
John Bell, another of the couple's sons, said of his mother, "She was always involved in every business. They were partners in every way."
Cecil Bell was preceded in death by his wife. They were married 74 years.
John Bell discussed his father's reputation.
"When he was in the butane business, people would run out in the middle of winter. He always helped them," John Bell said. "People would come up and tell stories about that. One time a man came up and said, 'It does me good just to look at you.' I'll always remember that."
Michael Bell said his father lived alone in the house he and his wife had shared for 50 years until a vehicle accident two months ago. He was in St. Andrews Place until his death.
Jim Bell said, "His sons and grandkids and great-grandkids were his joy. He loved get-togethers."
Grandson Scotty Bell added, "The most recent get-together was Christmas Day, and he really enjoyed that."
In addition to his community involvement and devotion to his family, Cecil Bell enjoyed hunting and fishing.
"Fishing and hunting was a big part of his life," John Bell said. "He went every year to South Dakota. (He hunted) pheasant up there and quail here. He loved to go crappie fishing."
Funeral services for Cecil Bell will be 11 a.m. today at Woodland Heights Baptist Church in Conway, with Bro. Bill Probasco officiating. Burial will follow at Crestlawn Memorial Park.
(Staff writer Rachel Parker Dickerson can be reached by e-mail at rachel.dickerson@thecabin.net or by phone at 505-1277. Send us your news at www.thecabin.net/submit)
