OBITUARY

Name:   Lillie Belle (Wallace) Bell

From:  The Post-Star, Glens Falls, New York
Date:  Friday, December 19, 2008

GLENS FALLS - Lillie B. (Wallace) Bell, 87, of Third Street, died peacefully Thursday, Dec. 18, 2008, at her home, joining her mother, father, husband and siblings in heaven.

Born on Aug. 15, 1921, in Glens Falls, she was the daughter of the late Forrest Franklin and Bertha Alma (Martin) Wallace. She married Milton O. Bell on March 27, 1948. He passed away in 1977.

Lillie attended Big Cross Street School and graduated from South Glens Falls High School, Class of 1940.  Lillie was a longtime employee of the McMullen Leaven Dressmaker Factory. She also was a former employee of the Embassy Shirt Makers and Glens Falls Hospital. A loving mother and grandmother who was a great inspiration to her daughter and grandsons, Lillie valued her role as a homemaker first and foremost. Of the many Christmas traditions, she never failed to uphold the annual baking of raisin filled cookies from an Old Dutch recipe passed down from her grandmother, Lillie A. (Hunter) Lord. One of her greatest joys was that she successfully taught her daughter and grandsons to bake these delicious treats almost as well as she did. Her grandson Patrick remembers when he was 3 years old he got to help cut the gingerbread boy cookies. Another important activity to Lillie was her interest in reading and history, especially local history and how it affected and related to our ancestry. She was most instrumental in gathering photo's, names, places and dates for her family's genealogical roots. Her daughter plans on working on this lifelong pursuit in her memory. Lillie made hand crocheted Mr. and Mrs. Santa Claus doll clothes, crochet blankets, sewn and crocheted Christmas ornaments for her family. She was a former member of the West Glens Falls Community Chapel where she enjoyed her time with the Ladies Chapel Guild. She was also a past member of Northeastern NY Genealogical Society and the Glens Falls Senior Citizens.

Survivors include her daughter, Kathy M. Guertin and and husband, Louis, of Ballston Spa; her grandsons, Patrick L. Guertin and Christopher N. Guertin both of Ballston Spa and many nieces, nephews and cousins.  Besides her husband and parents, she was also predeceased by her brothers, Lawrence A. Wallace and Luther A. Wallace; and her sister, Daisy R. Gilman.

Friends may call from 4 to 7 p.m. Monday, Dec. 22, 2008, at the M. B. Kilmer Funeral Home, 136 Main St., South Glens Falls.  Funeral services will be conducted at 11 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2008, at the funeral home with the Rev. Flossie Gage Bates officiating. Burial will follow in Leggett's Cemetery, Chestertown.

Donations may be made in Lillie's memory to the Northeastern New York Genealogical Society, P.O. Box 4264, Queensbury, NY 12804.

Along with her daughter, Lillie's other primary caretaker was her grandson, Christopher Guertin, who gladly sacrificed much of his personal time to care for his grandmother for the last seven years.

The family wishes to extend a special thank you to High Peaks Hospice nurses Jan and Peg for the comfort and help for Lillie's family through the last days of her life.