Deceased July 27, 2017
View alumni profile (log in required)
In Memory
Craig Bell died July 27, 2017, a victim primarily of long-standing COPD. He came to Amherst from Deerfield Academy and the small community of Piqua, Ohio.
Following Amherst, Craig spent almost 30 years in the retail automobile business selling Chevrolets at his Grand Rapids, Mich., dealership. He sold that in 1981 and moved to his family’s cattle ranch near Patagonia, Ariz.
For the rest of his life Craig followed the same annual routine—summer months in the lovely home his parents had built on Crooked Lake in Oden, Mich., just east of Lake Michigan, and the balance of the year at the Patagonia ranch. During a severe drought in the late ’90s, Craig sold off his livestock, and for the rest of his life, he enjoyed Arizona as a gentleman farmer.
Craig married several times and had more children and then grandchildren than he could recount! For the past 25 years, however, Craig lived with Maureen O’Brien, the love of his life (Smith ’54, known there by Craig’s sister, Kitty, also ’54). Craig and Maureen were both devoted bridge players, and the game bonded their relationship. They left us almost at the same time—Maureen in May 2017 and Craig two months later. Craig is remembered as a loveable fellow, generous, compassionate but, yes, with a unique marital style!
Everett E. Clark ’51