A good sense of humor is a trait I admire, and
I like to think that my ancestors have passed that down through the
generations. My grandpa, Clifford Bell, was definitely a funny guy
and loved practical jokes and making people laugh. His four kids,
three boys and a girl, all carried on this tradition…I have
mentioned in past columns about the humorous things my dad has done,
such as squatting in his underwear with his reflection in full view
of my visiting piano teacher and pouring red Kool-Aid down the back
of an elderly woman (by accident of course!)..his older brother Don
is always the life of a get- together, and these genes have surely
made the passage from one generation to the next. Just look at
Ryan!
I’ve also written about my own love of things humorous and how,
occasionally, something will strike me funny and I start laughing
and pretty soon its uncontrollable laughter that goes on and on and
on. It used to be quite common when I was younger, maybe once a
week or so that this would occur. My dad would say “she’s going
into hysterics again” It didn’t have to be anything particularly
funny, just some random thing would set me off and I was a goner.
It didn’t matter if I was in church, school, bed; whenever it struck
I was helpless to stop. As the years go by, these hysterical
outbreaks have become fewer and farther between, but they do happen
once in a while.
Well, last night, Dick and I were lying in bed and he had the “Red
Green” show on…for those of you who haven’t heard of this, it’s on
PBS and it can be funny at times. Dick likes to flip back and forth
between it and the local news. Anyway, this was between 10:00 and
10:30 PM, and for some reason I said to Dick, “you should have your
own show but instead of the “Red Green” show it would be called
“-------“ (I’m not going to fill that part in, suffice it to say it
was stupid), but it struck me as funny and I began to laugh and it
turned into one of those historic, hysterical, maniacal, fits that I
hadn’t had in God knows how long. I laughed, snorted, gasped…you
name it, this was a full blown scream-fest which took me at least
ten minutes to get under control, still wiping my eyes and
chuckling. It seems somehow fitting then, that I should at that
moment get a phone call saying my dad had passed away, between 10:00
and 10:30. It may sound irreverent, but if I asked him if he’d
rather have me bawling or laughing, I know which he’d have chosen.
Dad (Gene Bell) had been battling cancer for 5 years and the last
few months haven’t been good ones for him. After being poked
and prodded with needles, medicine, chemotherapy and all the other
nasty things |
that go along with this disease, he decided a few days ago
not continue any treatments. On Wednesday, the doctors took him off
all the IVs and the ambulance transferred him to a hospital closer
to home, Thursday night he died.
After the phone call, it occurred to me that I had been laughing
while he was taking his last breaths and Dick said, “Well, he always
liked a good laugh”…which is true. I can about imagine him up there
telling jokes and trying to get the Pope to “pull his finger”! That
Bell humor is sure to keep going strong, we’ve got a whole new
generation to pass it along to now. Great granddaughter, Peyton, is
already learning the art of the knock-knock joke. OK…she only knows
one, but you’ve got to start somewhere! We’ll make sure the next
generations keep that humor “gene” alive and well!
 Gene
Bell and Emerson Krogman |
