LACONIA----William Fairbanks Bell, died in his home on Friday, October 2, 2020. He was 89 years old.
William (Bill) was born in Newton, Massachusetts. He attended Newton public schools and graduated from Newton High School. Bill developed a love of classical music at an early and began his lifelong passion for the cello at the age of eight. He received a Bachelor of Arts Degree from Tufts University and a Master of Business Administration from The Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.
In the summer of 1951, Bill met Joan Hoxsie, who was two years behind him at Newton High School, at the old Hotel Alpine in North Woodstock, New Hampshire. Bill was there playing cello and Joan was waiting tables. They fell in love that summer. For three years, they dated at a distance, as Joan studied at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst and Bill finished college and his first year of graduate school. They married in June 1954. Joan returned to Amherst and Bill to Philadelphia to complete their degrees. Bill then enrolled in the Officer Candidate School of the Navy in Newport, Rhode Island. Joan and Bill moved to San Diego, where Bill served two years in the Navy. During their stay in San Diego, their first two children were born.
After Bill’s Navy service, the family returned to Boston where Bill began his career in investment management. This included many years at Putnam Management Company in Boston, and Wagner Forest Management, in Lyme, New Hampshire. The growing Bell family moved to Cohasset, Massachusetts in 1966 and lived there until 1990. The Bells also spent time year-round at their farmhouse, Westwynde, in Alexandria, New Hampshire. It had been in Joan’s family for three generations and was a central feature of Bell family life. Westwynde hosted countless friends and families over the decades, and Joan and Bill retired there in 1995. They were active members of St. Stephen’s Church in Cohasset and the Union Congregational Church in Hebron, New Hampshire.
Joan and Bill moved to the Taylor Community in 2012. They made close friends at Taylor and found a welcoming worship community at the Laconia Congregational Church. Bill founded a music series at the Taylor Community that became a popular regional musical venue.
Throughout his long life, Bill was a devoted husband, father and grandfather, was generous and funny, with an abiding appreciation for music and a passion for Boston sports. He and Joan were married for 66 years, were devoted to each other, and well known for their sweet handholding.
William is pre-deceased by son, Donald Whitney and daughter, Cynthia MacKay, and survived by his wife, Joan, his children, William, Jr. (Wiley) and Sandi Blaze, David (Bud), and Douglas, and his grandchildren Amanda (and Zack), Taylor, Ryan (and Madeleine), Sabrina, Mercy, John Michael (and Rubi), Ana-Maria (and Matt), Seraphina, Francisco, and Rosenda.
Although COVID prevents the family from having a communal celebration of Bill’s life at this time, they will invite those who knew and loved Bill to celebrate together when safe to do so.
Wilkinson-Beane-Simoneau-Paquette Funeral Home & Cremation Services, 603 Cremations.com, 164 Pleasant Street, Laconia, NH, 03246, is assisting the family with the arrangements. For more information and to view an online memorial go to www.wilkinsonbeane.com.