Lester William Bell, Jr.

Lester William Bell Jr. of Anderson, Texas, passed away at the age of 96 on March 15, 2024, after a long battle with serious illness.

Lester was a well-known and highly regarded cattleman whose passion in life was to feed and care for his cattle. He was one of the last of a generation that did everything themselves; Lester plowed, planted, harvested, combined, cut, baled, wrapped and produced his own feeds as much as possible, year-round.  He bulldozed his own fields to slope them and dug his own stock tanks to clean, widen and deepen them.  He built his own fences and corrals and repaired his own machinery with help from his friends. He was an exemplary steward of the lands he managed and was one of the most honest and hardest working men on earth. He was a patriot and an altruist who helped anyone in need at any time.

Born in Hammond, Indiana, March 21, 1928, Lester was preceded in death by both of his parents, Lester William Bell Sr. and Helen Dearing Bell.  He was also preceded in death by his first wife, Betty, second wife Margarite (Walker), his sister Julia (Bell) Sloan, his daughter, Luann (Bell) Richey, and his younger brother Richard Alan Bell of Jackson, Michigan.

Lester is survived by his wife of 37 years, Sarah (Brown) Bell, his daughter and son in law Thea and Robert Lingo of Fallbrook, California, grandson Spencer Lingo, and granddaughter and grandson-in-law Jessica (Lingo) Genung and Chris Genung of California, along with three great grandchildren, Joshua, Robert, and Jacqueline.  He is also survived by his brother-in-law Edward Brown, his sister-in-law Yvonne (Gilbert) Bell of Jackson, Michigan, his nephews Richard (Wendy) and Brian Bell, along with their children Allison, Mickaila, Samantha (Robert), Chance, Jacob and Courtney, Kollin and Elena.

Lester grew up on a dairy farm near Valparaiso, Indiana. He enlisted in the Navy while still in high school for training upon graduation, graduated from Portage High School in 1945, trained in Bethesda, MD, then served in the US Navy from 1946 through 1948, receiving a WWII Victory Medal for his service on the USS Missouri during combat duty post war peace keeping missions around the world.

Once stateside, he attended Valparaiso University, married, then moved to Texas to manage the famed Potter Ranch in Crockett, Texas.  He helped build, then manage a feedyard on Rankin Road in Houston, Texas for the Kaplan brothers in the early 1960's.
 He moved to Anderson from Huntsville in the 1980's to be closer to the ranches he maintained and managed. He retired from ranching in 2007 after losing his eyesight to macular degeneration.

Lester's remains will be interred in the National Cemetery of Houston following a family graveside service. Arrangements are still pending due to scheduling for the National Cemetery.

We ask that in lieu of flowers, Lester's friends and family make a donation to the National Federation of the Blind at

https://nfb.org/programs-services/advocacy#:~:text=The%20National%20Federation%20of%20the,respect%20for%20all%20blind%20Americans.