Joanne Mackey Bell

and Helen Prewitt Mackey. She grew up on the family farm near Clarksville,

Missouri surrounded by a large, loving family.

She was an honor student who especially loved French and playing the flute,

graduating from Clopton High School in 1957 and then Stephens College in

Columbia, Missouri in 1960. During her college years, she was crowned

International Lassie Queen, a competition of the International Shorthorn

Association, winning a trip to Scotland where she was feted by Scottish breeders

of Shorthorn cattle.

In 1960, she married her childhood sweetheart, Olin Nile Bell of Bowling Green,

Missouri. A few days after the wedding, they packed the trunk of their car with

wedding gifts for the drive to Cambridge, Massachusetts where Nile attended

Harvard Law School while Joanne worked at the Harvard Museum of Natural

History. She had a fondness for ammonites throughout her life based on this

experience.

They moved to New York and later to New Jersey where Nile practiced law and

Joanne found her true calling, raising their beloved daughter Anne Ashley Bell.

In 1979, they relocated to Potomac, Maryland where Joanne spent the rest of her

life applying her passion for interior design and landscape design. She spent over

thirty years and became a Master in the Japanese art of Ikebana, growing plant

materials in her garden for her spectacular arrangements. Her love of art and

design never waned, and she studied and enjoyed both regularly.

She and Nile traveled extensively, including Europe, Asia, and South America. She

particularly enjoyed their numerous opportunities to tour English gardens.

In 2005, Joanne began spending her winters in Sarasota, Florida where both her

sister, Janet Mackey Thompson and her husband, Ron, and her brother, Frank

Mackey and his wife, Helaine, had homes. She reveled in being near her siblings

and especially spending holidays with her cherished nieces and nephews, and

most particularly with her great nieces and nephews.

Joanne will be buried in Greenwood Cemetery in Clarksville along with her dear

husband and parents who pre-deceased her. In recent years, she has suffered

from strokes and heart issues as well as dementia. She has been lovingly cared

for at her home by Evelyn Pamanano. Joanne succumbed to a stroke on January

16, 2021 with Evelyn and Ashley by her side.

She is also survived by her siblings as well as: Her nephew, Chris Smith of Denton,

Texas along with his wife Diane and their daughter Elizabeth and her husband

Jonah and son Andrew and his wife Sarah. Her niece, Courtney Brown Willard of

Pilot Mountain, North Carolina and her husband Ted as well as their son

Christopher and daughters Caroline and Jayne. Her nephew Andrew Brown of

McAllen, Texas and his wife Jennifer and their son Chase. Her niece Mimi Mackey

Hollrah and husband Scot. And, her niece Maria Mackey Timp and husband

Andrew and daughter Annie Jaco.