Obituary of Lily Bell

LILY BELL (nee Nahas)

Peacefully in her sleep in her native Lebanon, surrounded by her loving family on Wednesday, February 6, 2019, in her 93rd year.  Loving wife of Jack Robert Bell for over 63 years.  Dear mother of Robert, Joyce, John, and Michael; cherished grandmother of Andrea, May, Joe, Jacqueline, Edward, Jack, Marius, and Darius; honored great-grandmother of Gabrielle, Timothy, Frieda, and Nicolas; and grateful daughter of Azar Elias Nahas and Nabiha Qaysar Nahas. 

Lily was a woman of incredible grace – a true gentlewoman and lady in every sense of the word.  She dedicated her life, selflessly and with complete sacrifice, to creating the most loving and nurturing home for all her children, including embracing Robert and Joyce with pure love, as her very own.  Through that, she leaves her four children with the greatest gift of all – the gift of love, which is now being passed along to her offspring. 

Lily was also a great professional, studying nursing at the American University of Beirut, and Columbia University on a Rockefeller scholarship, and providing tender care to the elderly at Thompson House in Don Mills for over a decade.  Jack and Lily are permanently recognized through a scholarship at the University of Toronto.  Lily endured Alzheimer’s with amazing grace for a remarkable 17 years and, in the end, left us on her own timing, realizing that she was long overdue for her daily scrabble game with Jack! 

The family will receive friends at the Humphrey Funeral Home – A.W. Miles Chapel, 1403 Bayview Avenue (south of Eglinton Avenue East) from 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, February 16th, with prayer service to be held in the chapel at 12:00 p.m. and burial to follow at Highland Memory Gardens.  Memorial donations may be made to the Alzheimer’s Society of Canada, 20 Eglinton Avenue West, Toronto M4R 1K8.  Condolences may be forwarded through www.humphreymiles.com.