Elizabeth Ann Bell (1923-1968) was the fifth of six children born to Joseph and Julia Bell. Her brothers and sisters called her “Betty Ann,” and the older siblings were significantly so, ten or more years removed from her. Like her two older sisters Mary and Margaret, Betty Ann received her Sacraments at the Cathedral of John the Baptist in Savannah.
Betty Ann got to know Lawrence Morgan in the summer of 1940. Lawrence was the son of a Savannah police lieutenant and was working as a welding apprentice at the Savannah Sugar Refinery, makers of the aptly named “Dixie Crystals.” Lawrence, too, was a much-younger sibling, the baby of a family of five. At more than six feet, Lawrence was significantly taller than his darling Betty, the name he always called her. “Our mother was beautiful,” shared her daughter Jeno.” She was very petite with dark hair, almost black. Beautiful blue eyes and very fair light skin.”
World War II was raging in Europe in 1940 and, though the U.S. had declared neutrality the previous year, when Holland, Belgium, and then France fell to the Nazis that summer it was apparent America would soon be involved. Lawrence must have been enrolled in a local militia, possibly Chatham Artillery. On September 16, 1940, the very day that all American men ages 21-45 were required to register for the draft, Lawrence is documented as having “enlisted” in the U.S. Army Artillery. While this is possible, it is more likely that his militia unit as a whole was activated en masse on that date.
Lawrence landed on Omaha Beach at D-Day +5, and was awarded the Bronze Star for his actions in the Battle of the Bulge as a Staff Sergeant in charge of a field artillery gun section of M101-105mm Howitzers. This military connection reached back to touch two previous generations. Betty Ann’s grandfather Julius Bell saw combat as “Chief of Caisson” in a field artillery battalion during the Civil War, while her uncle Theodore H. Bell was a field artillery officer during World War I.
The family is not sure when Betty and Lawrence were wed, but daughter Jeno remembered hearing that they discussed marrying as early as that first summer. “Daddy told me that mother wanted to have a baby before he enlisted, but he wanted her to be able to start a new life if he did not return.” When Lawrence did return to Savannah after the war the couple lived with her parents Joseph and Julia on Waldburg Street for a time, before purchasing their family home on E. 51st St., where they raised their four daughters. Betty Ann worked outside the home for a short time during the war, but dedicated herself to her home and her children afterward. “Betty Ann was a sweetheart,” shared her nephew Bob Pruitt,” and Larry was really nice too.”
Larry was a technician for National Cash Register (NCR) for thirty years. He too was Catholic, and they raised their children to recognize God’s Providence. “Mother believed that God had a reason for everything that happens, a greater plan.” Jeno continued. “She always tucked us into bed and we said our bedtime prayers, “Now I Lay Me Down To Sleep,” with some added request and thanks to God. On Sundays we went to Mass then home for lunch, once in awhile we went out for seafood. Evenings were always a very simple dinner, sandwiches or grits with bacon, it was a break for mother out of the kitchen. Daddy loved football, so the television was always on during football season.”
“Mother was very strict with us as children but very loving as well. As we transitioned into our teen years the strictness I remembered as a child seemed to evolve into a casual guidance with emphasis on self discipline.” Betty Ann’s “casual guidance” included giving her girls, “The freedom of walking or riding bikes to school alone, swimming at Daffin Park, riding the city bus downtown to go shopping or to the DeSoto Hotel to go swimming. All of these activities were without adult supervision, just siblings, cousins, or friends. Trips to Tybee [Beach] as children and then later with friends as teens were the BEST. Savannah was a wonderful city to live in as a child and teenager.”
NCR’s corporate headquarters was in Dayton, Ohio, and in 1965 the family moved there from their beloved hometown. “Moving to Dayton was a culture shock. It was a difficult transition for all of us, leaving our family and friends. Soon after moving to Dayton, mother became sick.” It turned out to be a brain tumor. Mary and Margaret both arranged to come to Ohio to be with their baby sister, but Betty ultimately succumbed at age 44. She was brought back to her beloved Savannah, and is buried in the Morgan family plot at Bonaventure Cemetery.
“Our life again, as we knew it, changed drastically. Mother’s death took it’s toll,” her girls shared many years later. The family took some comfort in their mother’s strong faith, though “we each had our own coping mechanisms, some good, others not so good. We survived and changed and grew into the adults we are; however, the pain and loss remain. Even though mother is not physically with us, the imprint she left has been passed down to her grandchildren and great grandchildren. Evening prayers, songs, stories and memories are very much alive.
Adapted from A String of Bells: Stories of a Southern Family © 2020 by Nick J. Guevara, Jr.
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