{"id":119837,"date":"2026-01-04T15:18:08","date_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:18:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/119837\/"},"modified":"2026-01-04T15:18:08","modified_gmt":"2026-01-04T15:18:08","slug":"susan-bell-the-queen-of-long-beach-volunteers-and-2013-woman-of-the-year-dies-at-87-press-telegram","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/119837\/","title":{"rendered":"Susan Bell, the \u2018Queen of Long Beach Volunteers\u2019 and 2013 Woman of the Year, dies at 87 \u2013 Press Telegram"},"content":{"rendered":"

Susan Bell was raised by her mother to be a community volunteer and help others.<\/p>\n

Her mom did such a good job that her daughter became known as the \u201cQueen of Long Beach Volunteers\u201d and received numerous other plaudits during her life, including the coveted Rick Racker Woman of the Year award in 2013 and the Helen Newcomb Leadership Award from the Junior League in 2011.<\/p>\n

For more than 20 years of her community service, Susan Bell also endured life-threatening cancer.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mother beat cancer three times and she fought until the end,\u201d her son, Bryant Bell, said last week from his home in Kansas City, Missouri. \u201cHer body finally couldn\u2019t keep up with her will.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"This<\/p>\n

This undated photo shows Susan Bell on vacation in France. (Courtesy of the Bell family)\n<\/p>\n

\"Susan<\/p>\n

Susan Bell and her husband, Dr. Dick Bell, celebrate their 50th wedding anniversary on Catalina Island. (Courtesy of the Bell family)\n<\/p>\n

\"In<\/p>\n

In 1970, Susan Bell, a member of the Junior League, gets ready for the opening of their annual rummage sale at the Long Beach Convention & Entertainment Center. For many years, this popular multiday event raised money for various charities in the city. (Courtesy of the Bell family)\n<\/p>\n

\"Susan<\/p>\n

Susan Bell holds flowers after being named Rick Racker Woman of the Year in 2013 for her years of volunteerism. (Courtesy of the Bell family)\n<\/p>\n

Show Caption<\/p>\n

1 of 4<\/p>\n

This undated photo shows Susan Bell on vacation in France. (Courtesy of the Bell family)\n<\/p>\n

Expand<\/a><\/p>\n

The elder Bell died last month at Los Alamitos Medical Center, with Dr. Richard Bell, her husband of 65 years, and daughter Katy Sue at her side. She was 87. A celebration of her life is scheduled for Friday, Jan. 9, at the Long Beach Yacht Club, 6201 Appian Way.<\/p>\n

Bell was \u201can amazing woman who only cared about helping others and never complained about any adversity in her own life,\u201d said Shirlee Bouch, a former president of the Assistance League of Long Beach and a longtime volunteer herself. \u201cShe was so giving and positive in a beautiful way.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Assistance League also memorialized Bell in its own statement.<\/p>\n

\u201cSusan\u2019s legacy,\u201d the league said, \u201ccontinues through her charitable work and her role in supporting underserved students in the Long Beach Unified School District.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jo Murray, a columnist for the Grunion Gazette \u2014 the Press-Telegram\u2019s weekly sister publication \u2014 was a longtime friend of Bell\u2019s and said she \u201cwas loved by everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

Bryant Bell, for his part, said his mother\u2019s love of life kept her optimistic.<\/p>\n

\u201cEven when she lost her eldest son, Latham, to a brain aneurysm in 2017,\u201d the younger Bell said, \u201cit was the community that she gave to that supported her and helped her maintain her positive outlook on life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Susan Bell (n\u00e9e Stauffer) was born in 1938 in Madison, Wisconsin, to professor J. F. Stauffer and Kathyrn Stauffer. When she received her Woman of the Year award, Bell said her mother was very involved in philanthropic activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it was a natural choice for me to get involved too,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

After graduating from high school in Madison, she attended Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, where she met Long Beach native Richard \u201cDick\u201d Bell.\u00a0 After two years at Colorado State, she returned to Madison and attended the University of Wisconsin. Upon graduating, she married Dick Bell in 1960.<\/p>\n

Because she had never been to Long Beach, her husband took her there to meet his family.<\/p>\n

\u201cTheir honeymoon, as they called it, was the four-day drive from Madison to Long Beach,\u201d their son said.<\/p>\n

Everything was fine on that trip \u2014 until they reached the desert.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy mom told me later that she almost cried when they came across the desert and all she saw was brown,\u201d he said. \u201cFor a girl from Wisconsin, this was a shock. My mother had never been west of the Rockies so the lack of green hit her hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

But upon reaching Long Beach, things started looking up.<\/p>\n

Susan Bell was introduced to her husband\u2019s high school friends, including Patty Hart, daughter of attorney George Hart, as well as Kay Berg, Linda Landis, the Mason Kights and others. She was also introduced to the extended Bell family, which included her husband\u2019s aunt, who was married to Dick Hofman of Hof\u2019s Hut and her husband\u2019s grandparents, Dr. Raymond and Bunchie Bell, and Frank and Helen Buren.<\/p>\n

\u201cBoth families had been settled in Long Beach and Los Angeles since the late 1800s and early 1900s,\u201d Bryant Bell said, \u201cso Long Beach was home for my dad.\u201d<\/p>\n

For two months, Susan and Dick Bell spent time in Long Beach before they headed to the San Francisco Bay Area for three years so the latter could earn his medical degree.<\/p>\n

While in Long Beach, they stayed in an apartment next to the old Pacific Coast Club, looking out onto the ocean, with views of Catalina Island, which Susan Bell grew to love. She and her husband celebrated her 50th wedding anniversary on Catalina.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was in these two months where my mom was surrounded by my dad\u2019s family, and she fostered new relationships and lifelong friends,\u201d her son said, \u201cthat she fell in love with Long Beach.\u201d<\/p>\n

After Dick Bell got his medical degree, the couple returned to Long Beach. Dick Bell established his podiatry practice there and the couple started a family.<\/p>\n

For her first decade in Long Beach, Susan Bell focused on raising her two sons and her daughter, but she was also actively involved in the Junior League and the Naples School PTA and served as den mother for her sons\u2019 Cub Scouts.<\/p>\n

When her oldest son entered Wilson High School, she decided to pursue a teaching career that used her degree in occupational therapy. She became a Long Beach Unified School District special education teacher for physically disabled children and those with cerebral palsy and autism. Bell taught for almost 20 years at George Washington Carver Elementary School, retiring in 1998.<\/p>\n

Through her work with the Junior League, Bell also found a passion for other organizations in Long Beach, including the Long Beach Day Nursery, the Long Beach Cancer League, the Long Beach Yacht Club and the Ronald McDonald House. She also served on numerous boards, including for the Tichenor Orthopedic Clinic for Children, the Children\u2019s Dental Health Foundation, Community Hospital, MemorialCare Long Beach Medical Center and Cameo, an auxiliary of the Assistance League.<\/p>\n

In her later years, Bell, who died on Dec. 3, enjoyed spending time with her children; her three grandchildren, Richard, Gentry and William; her nieces in Madison, Darcy and Mari; and her grandnephews, Gabe and Sam.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou would think that she would take a break from volunteering, but it never stopped,\u201d her son said. \u201cWith the Long Beach Yacht Club, she could be found on the race committee on Wet Wednesdays, and she always looked forward to volunteering for the Congressional Cup.\u201d<\/p>\n

What kept Bell going?<\/p>\n

Well, when she received her Woman of the Year award in 2013, she was asked what volunteering her time meant to her.<\/p>\n

\u201cVolunteerism is a way to return my personal gifts to our community,\u201d she replied. \u201cIf I have made life a bit easier or nice for someone \u2014 especially a child \u2014 I feel grateful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Bell family has asked that, in lieu of flowers, donations be made to either the Long Beach Cancer League, the Long Beach Day Nursery or Ronald McDonald House.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Susan Bell was raised by her mother to be a community volunteer and help others. Her mom did…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":119838,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[7,23,131,133,132,137,10238],"class_list":{"0":"post-119837","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-long-beach","8":"tag-california","9":"tag-local-news","10":"tag-long-beach","11":"tag-long-beach-headlines","12":"tag-long-beach-news","13":"tag-los-angeles-county","14":"tag-obituaries"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119837","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=119837"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/119837\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/119838"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=119837"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=119837"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=119837"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}