Ray Franklin Bell

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Ray Franklin Bell, age 97, passed away September 24th, 2021. He is survived by children Bill (Janet) Bell and Melody (Mike) Gwinn, three grandsons, and ten great grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his wife of 70 years, Betty Bell. He was born on a farm in Lee County, South Carolina July 17th, 1924. Graduating from high school at the start of World War II, he worked at the Navy Yard in Charleston, SC until he was old enough to enlist in the US Army Air Corps. It was in Charleston that he met the love of his life, the former Betty Donnelly. After joining the Air Corps he was trained to fly the B-25 bomber and trained navigators to operate airborne radar as path finders in the European theater. His squadron then transitioned to the P-38 fighter for the invasion of Japan but were saved from combat by the atomic bombs which ended the war in the Pacific. After his time in service he graduated from Furman University and attended law school at the University of Virginia before embarking on a career as a real estate broker and insurance agent. He also sold horticultural greenhouses and for three years was the Mooney aircraft distributor in Georgia. Flying continued to be one of his favorite past times and he owned and flew light aircraft until he was 88 years old. He was a member of the United Flying Octogenarians, a group of pilots who flew an airplane after their 80th birthday. He was awarded the FAA’s Wright Brothers Master Pilot Award for 50 years of safe flying. He was former commander of the Flying Fezz unit at Yaarab Temple and served as hospital chairman and was on the Board of Governors of the Greenville Shrine Hospital. He was a mason, a member of the Scottish Rite, and a Shriner. He was a member of the Silver Wings Fraternity and a former member of the National Guard and Civil Air Patrol. He was a charter member of Clairmont Hills Baptist Church. He loved his family and friends, his work with Shrine Hospitals, Furman University, traveling and flying. His funeral will be Saturday, October 2nd in the chapel of A.S. Turner & Sons at 11:00 am. The family will receive friends the hour prior to the service at the funeral home. In lieu of flowers, donations can be made to the Greenville Shriners Hospital, c/o Yaarab Temple, 400 Ponce de Leon Ave NE, Atlanta, GA, 30308.