Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Society

Barbara Bell was born on 4 June in 1902 in Halifax, Nova Scotia, the daughter of Francis H. Bell and M. Leila Bell. Bell had at least one brother, Hugh B. Bell. Barbara spent her early years in Bermuda, and later went to school at Halifax Ladies College around 1919. Bell was an ambulance driver, Lieutenant in the St. John’s Ambulance Battalion, in France and Germany during WWII. After the war Bell helped locate and distribute aid to people who had been hiding from the Germans. She then returned to Halifax where she organized a social club, the Mardi Gras Club, on the Navy’s behalf. She was also president of the Protestant Orphanage, today known as Veith House. Bell was a member of St. Paul’s Anglican Church in Halifax. She also ran Camp Sunshine in Mahone Bay. Bell was actively involved as a volunteer with organizations such as the Izaak Walton Killam children’s hospital. Bell was a founding member of the Cole Harbour Rural Heritage Society. She and her father were members of the Royal Nova Scotia Yacht Squadron and were closely involved with the Marblehead to Halifax races, presenting the Hugh Bell Trophy to the winner. Bell never married but fostered two girls. Bell died 15 August 1999 in Cole Harbour.