Charles Raymond "Ray" Bell Jr. found his life's passion on an elementary school field trip to his hometown newspaper.
He started writing for newspapers as a teenager and practiced his craft for the next 60 years. His rsum included two stints at the Dallas Times Herald and 20 years writing and editing at The Dallas Morning News.
Mr. Bell, 77, died Thursday of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease at his Waxahachie home.
Visitation will be from 6 to 8 p.m. today at Boze Mitchell McKibbin Funeral Home in Waxahachie.
Services will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday at Boze Mitchell McKibbin Funeral Home in Waxahachie. He will be buried in Sardis Cemetery in Ellis County.
Mr. Bell held a number of editing and reporting positions during his career at The News, said Bill Evans, retired executive managing editor.
"He was sort of a jack-of-all-trades in the newsroom," Mr. Evans said. "Ray would do anything, and he knew his business."
Mr. Bell was also beloved by many who worked with him for his gentle and even, yet colorful, personality.
"He was one of the old-style newspaper characters," Mr. Evans said.
Mr. Bell's journalism career spanned his adult life, from his high school days until well past his retirement from The News, said his wife of 20 years, Barbara Bell of Waxahachie.
Mr. Bell covered high school football until about a year ago, when his health no longer permitted it, Mrs. Bell said.
"We carried out little portable oxygen tanks with us," Mrs. Bell said.
In addition to the Dallas dailies, Mr. Bell had worked for a host of newspapers including The Lubbock Avalanche-Journal, the Temple Daily Telegram, The Charlotte Observer and The Press in Fort Worth.
He sold articles to more than a dozen national magazines, including Vanity Fair and The Saturday Evening Post.
Mr. Bell had also worked for The Associated Press in Atlanta. He moved to Georgia in1967, after marrying a colleague at the Times Herald , which then had a nepotism rule.
Mr. Bell went to Atlanta with a glowing letter of recommendation that described his love for journalism, said Mr. Bell's first wife, Kathe Bell.
"Ray is a newspaperman's newspaperman - his insides are made of newspapers," Ms. Bell said, recalling a line from the 1967 letter.
"Ray was smitten with the romance of writing," Ms. Bell said.
Mr. Bell was born in Waco, where he graduated from high school ahead of schedule. He was 16 years old when he landed his first full-time journalism job at the Hillsboro Daily Mirror.
He received numerous honors for his work, including several awards for his firsthand account of surviving a December 1983 heart attack in The News' parking lot on his way to work.
In his typical fashion, he returned to work less than two months later, after 12 days in the hospital and one month recovering at home.
In addition to his wife, Mr. Bell is survived by three sons, Ray Bell III of Coppell, Don Shaw of Boerne, Texas, and Kevin Shaw of Waxahachie; a daughter, Monica Prater of Waxahachie; five grandchildren; and one great-grandchild.
