Helen J. Bell

Helen J. Bell, 90, passed away peacefully in her sleep on Tuesday, October 14, 2025 at the Masonic Village Health Care Center, Elizabethtown. Born on February 27, 1935, Helen Jane Bell (nee-Muhly) and her sister were the first twins born at the then-new St. Michael’s Hospital in Newark, NJ. They were the daughters of Frederich Wolfgang Heinrich Muhly and Helen Ness Muhly of Kearny, NJ. She attended Kearny High School and Burroughes Business School in Newark, graduating in 1953. She worked for the Worthington Corporation in North Arlington then at Congoleum-Nairn Corp., where she worked as a mail runner. She married Gordon L. Bell on February 6, 1960 at Kearny Methodist Church and gave birth to two sons Kenneth (1962), and Kurt (1972). They lived in Sayreville, NJ from 1964 until 1969 when her husband took a job transfer to Pennsylvania and relocated to Chalfont, Pa. Helen was a homemaker raising children and enjoyed choir singing, especially opera. She was a member of the Order of the Eastern Star Philadelphia Chapter (1964-1966) and the Bucks County Chorale Society (1977-1986). She divorced in 1979. In 1980 she remarried but the marriage was annulled only after a short time. She was employed by Delaware Valley College in the cafeteria (1978-1980), for M.W. Wood, Inc. (1980-1981), and as an electronics tester at Neshaminy Electronics Corporation in Furlong, Pa. (1981-1989). She resided in Bensalem, Pa. from 1994 until she was admitted to a nursing home in Bristol, Pa., in 2017. She finally relocated in 2019 to the Masonic Village in Elizabethtown, Pa. She kept active singing, walking, knitting, cooking and spending time with her grandchildren. She enjoyed good conversations, especially politics, and being in the company of friends. She is survived by her sons Ken (Beverly) of Daytona Beach, FL; Kurt (Michelle) of Elizabethtown, Pa.; five grandchildren, a step granddaughter and six great grandchildren as well as several nieces and nephews in PA, NJ, NC and IN, and a goddaughter in ME. She is predeceased by her father, who died in Lake Worth, FL (age 67) in 1976; a sister, Norma Jean Muhly born in 1937 died shortly after childbirth; her mother who passed at age 87 in 1998; her stepfather George Carlin who died in 1987; and her twin sister Ruth who died in 1991. Cremation is being handled by Sheetz Funeral Home in Mount Joy. No memorial service is planned. Donations may be made to the National Cancer Society. Internment will take place at Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst, NJ. A private Celebration of Life luncheon for family is planned at a later date.

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Helen J. Bell

February 27, 1935 - October 14, 2025