James Edwin Bell

James E. Bell passed away February 21, 2016 at the Audie L. Murphy VA hospital in San Antonio. He was born August 5, 1924 in Ozark, Missouri. He grew up in Madison, KS and attended Emporia State Teachers College, where he earned his degree in music education. After serving as a Marine in WWII, he worked as a professional drummer in California; band director at St. John’s Military School in Salina, KS and Wentworth Military School in Lexington, MO. He then wrote a book about teaching a new approach to percussion and cut a record to go with it. He traveled throughout the United States conducting percussion clinics and selling his book. He settled down in San Antonio, TX where he has lived for the last fifty plus years. Jim is preceded in death by his two sisters, Hetty Lee Haughton and Phyllis Weyand, both from Cape Coral, FL. He is survived by his two nieces, Robyn Weyand of Lewisburg, WV and Kim Reisinger and her husband David, of Leawood, KS. Arrangements under the direction of Funeraria Del Angel Roy Akers, San Antonio, TX.