Mrs. Terry L. Bell's Obituary
Mrs. Terry L. Bell, 85, of Hamilton, VA, passed away on Thursday, March 12, 2015 in Leesburg, VA. She was born on October 2nd, 1929 in Sommerville, MA to the late David A. and Thelma Reed Gearty. Mrs. Bell has been a part of the Loudoun community for many years. With a background in local radio and TV she hosted a local political radio show with WAGE Radio for many years. She was also the co-owner and operator of Leesburg Chrysler Plymouth with her late husband and sons.
She is survived by a brother Russell Gearty, her four children Barry Bibb and his wife Lisa of Aldie, VA; Clay Bibb of Dania Beach, Florida; Brett Bibb and his wife Sabine of Hamilton, VA; and Bradley Bibb and his wife Krista of Pine Grove, VA. She is also survived by her four grandchildren Morgan Bibb, Carter Bibb, Spencer Bibb, and Jordan Bibb. In addition to her parents and a brother and sister, she was preceded in death by her husband Earl E. Bell in 1984
The family received friends for a memorial reception from 4:00 PM until 7:00 PM on Saturday, March 21, 2015 at Loudoun Funeral Chapel, 158 Catoctin Cr. SE, Leesburg, VA 20175.
In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made to the Hamilton Volunteer Fire Department, http://www.hamiltonfire.org/Donate.aspx
Please share condolences with the family at www.LoudounFuneralChapel.com.
By Margaret Morton Leesburg Today
posted on Mar 18, 2015
by Margaret Morton
Loudouners this week remembered Terry Bell, who died March 12 at the age of 85, as a gregarious, warm-hearted woman with a huge love of her community.
Bell was a business and community leader with a background in radio and television. She also was a driving force in the Democratic Party in Loudoun during the 1970s and 1980s.
There were some in the party reportedly who wanted her to run for the state delegate’s seat in the 1970s, in a district that at that time represented Loudoun and Prince William counties. Instead, in those more good ol’ boy days, she deferred to her husband, Earl E. Bell, who owned the car dealership Leesburg Chrysler-Plymouth. Earl Bell served two terms, before being defeated in 1980. “She was the reason he ran,” a family member said this week.
When her husband died in 1984, Terry Bell was a widow in her early 50s with four sons from a previous marriage. She resisted efforts to sell the family’s dealership and instead grew the business, owning three franchises in the 1980s—a rare position for a woman at that time in the automotive industry.
In 1988, Bell was chosen as the Loudoun Chamber of Commerce’s Woman of the Year. Part of her success as chief executive of the business—Leesburg Chrysler-Plymouth Dodge and Nissan—was to turn the day-to-day business operations over to her oldest sons, Barry, who became company president at age 29, and Brett Bibb, while she focused on her main interest, which was the marketing analysis and public relations side of the company. The Catoctin Circle dealership became one of Leesburg’s most visible companies.
Bell drew on her New England, Depression era, background for a strong work ethic. After graduating from Stratford Business School in Boston, MA, she came to Washington, DC, where she landed a job in sales with American Airlines. As a divorced mother of four young children, working outside the home in the 1950s was unusual, and Bell took it even further—pursuing a career in radio and television, working on the production side, with several top DC stations. It was with MetroMedia that she got interested in public affairs and politics.
After marrying Earl Bell in 1964, the couple bought a house just west of Hamilton in 1969. Terry Bell quickly became involved in her new community, running public service programs on WAGE Radio for the local United Way chapter, the American Cancer Society and the League of Women Voters.
Former state Sen. Charles L. Waddell originally met Bell while they both worked for American Airlines. But he got to know her well when she asked him to be on her popular “Know Your County” radio program, which she put on for the League of Women Voters.
“She was very bright, very well read and on top of everything going on,” he recalled. “Everything going on” at that time meant Watergate—and Bell wanted to get a local legislator’s perspective on President Nixon, Waddell said. He was impressed with her: “She could have been elected herself. She would have been an outstanding legislator in her own right—whether at the Board of Supervisors’ level on in the House of Delegates.” Instead, she became her husband’s strong right arm and put together his campaigns.
Bell was always interested in the media, and became an early investor in Leesburg Today, when it was founded in 1988. The paper’s founder, Brett Phillips, remembered her as a “highly visible female leader—the next generation of Vinton Pickens” and other women who helped shape the county, he said. As did others, Phillips recalled her confidence—“she was not afraid of the limelight”—and her high intelligence, inquisitive mind and ability to engage with anyone on any subject.
Friend and physician Jack Cook noted her mastery of the gregarious. “People liked to be around her, and she liked being around them.” Calling her very pragmatic, Cook noted her ease and mastery of social power in a society then dominated by men, including her ability to further her husband’s career.
“She was basically a very happy and joyous personality,” a trait she retained through life, he said.
What’s your fondest memory of Terry?
What’s a lesson you learned from Terry?
Share a story where Terry's kindness touched your heart.
Describe a day with Terry you’ll never forget.
How did Terry make you smile?