IVAN CLIFFORD BELL

Ivan’s family sadly announces his passing on Wednesday, Oct. 19, 2016 in his 86th year.
Ivan was born on March 23, 1930 on the family homestead in Stratton, Ont. to William A. Bell and Ruth (Beaman) Bell. He spent his first 19 years there before the family moved eastward to Seine River and Mine Centre.
He worked with the Department of Lands & Forests as a forest ranger and firefighter. It was in Mine Centre that he met Marilyn Matchett, the girl he would marry.
Shortly after Ivan and Marilyn were married in 1955, they moved to Churchill, Man., where he was employed with the Department of National Defence on the Canadian military base there. It was here their first son was born.
Life in the north at that time was very hard; they came home to Fort Frances, Ont. and they welcomed their second son.
Ivan spent the rest of his 31 working years with the Fort Frances Board of Education as head caretaker at both the high school and Robert Moore School.
In the late 1960s, Ivan and Marilyn built their cabin on Little Turtle Lake at Mine Centre, a special place they loved; to them it was going home. The family made wonderful memories there–the boys with dirt bikes, fishing, hunting, trapping minnows, shore lunches, picking berries, exploring the old mining sites in the Mine Centre area, wrestling with the docks as Little Turtle Lake levels rose and fell, and sharing barbecues and great meals with family, friends, and neighbours on the lake.
Ivan’s priority was his family first and foremost; he took great pride in their accomplishments and was a loving, steadfast husband, dad, and grandpa. He was heard to say his only regret was having to wait until he was an old man of 73 years before he became a grandpa. Jassi was the light of his life.
He was an unassuming, private, and compassionate man with a tender heart. His word was his bond. He was a man of quiet faith following the golden rule of “do unto others” in his daily living.
He had a love of animals and was especially a strong supporter of ethical treatment of farm animals.
He also had a keen interest in carpentery, working with wood. And later in his retirement years, when he had the time, he enjoyed his workshop at their home on Frenette Avenue, building things such as small furniture, coffee and end tables, toy chests, and other beautiful creations he crafted with cedar and pine.
In his mid-80s, as dementia was insidiously stealing his mind, it became necessary for him to join the residents of Rainycrest. His caregivers and staff were “the girls”–he often said they were the best. They spoiled him, sharing treats and lunches with him as he kept them company many evenings at the nurse’s station when he wouldn’t go to bed.
He kept a keen eye on their comings and goings; he could be quite feisty and wasn’t at all shy to give them his opinions, advice, or directions whenever he thought they needed it.
Ivan leaves behind Marilyn, his loving wife of 61 years; sons, Mike and Lindsay; daughter-in-law, Lesley; and precious granddaughter, Jastra.
He also is survived by his brother, David (Dianne) and family, Wade (Janet), Deborah, and Shane (Brande); his sister Marie’s family, Judy (Tim), Kenneth, Don (Susan), and Barbara; and sister-in-law, Carol (Jack) Booth of Devlin, Ont. and family, Andrea, Carla, Alyson (Chad), and Scott (Brooke).
Also surviving are his sisters-in-law, Cora Schorsch of Chicago and family, Albert (Betsy), Brian (Rose), Kurt (Joanne), Greg, Glenn (Mary), and Jennifer; and Naida Wolff of Thunder Bay and family, Grace and Grant.
Ivan was predeceased by his brother, Gordon, in France in 1944 during World War Two; sisters, Marie Bodnarchuck and Patricia McCuaig; nephew, Martin Bell; brother, Jack McCuaig; sister-in-law, Lois Matchett Babcock; and brothers-in-law, Larry Thompson, Albert Schorsch, Joe Wolff, and Frank Babcock.
Ivan requested that there be no funeral. His wish was that his cremains be laid in the family plot in Riverview Cemetery in Fort Frances. And so it will be.
Online condolences may be offered at www.greenfuneralhomefortfrances.com