Washington County OR Archives Biographies.....Bell, Glenn F. September 19, 1884 - 
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File contributed for use in USGenWeb Archives by:
Ila Wakley iwakley@msn.com October 8, 2009, 12:23 am

Source: History of the Columbia River Valley From The Dalles to the Sea, Vol. III, Published 1928, Pages 17-18
Author: The S. J. Clarke Publishing Company

     From the time of his arrival in Hillsboro, Glenn F. Bell has been a 
leading spirit in movements for its development and is a well known mortician 
with a background of more than twenty-five years of experience in the 
business. He was born in Branchport, Yates county, New York, September 19, 
1884, a son of John M. and Sarah A. (Hibbard) Bell, natives of Scotland. His 
father was born in 1842 and in early life followed the trade of a mason. About 
1858 he came to the United States but did not remain long in this country, and 
took a course in the University of Edinburgh, which conferred upon him the M. 
D. degree. He was married in Scotland and returned to America with his bride. 
They settled in New York state, in which Dr. Bell practiced successfully until 
his death in 1907, and his widow still resides there, making her home in Yates 
county.

     In that county Glenn F. Bell obtained his early education and afterward 
attended the Harrisburg Military Academy of Pennsylvania. For some time he was 
employed in a drug store and became a registered pharmacist. While in Buffalo, 
New York, he studied medicine for a year and a half and then returned to 
Branchport, entering the employ of an undertaker in 1901. He decided to 
continue in that line of work and took a course in a school of embalming at 
Rochester, New York. Later he went to Chicago and in 1908 started for the 
Pacific coast. He followed his chosen vocation in Santa Rosa, California, for 
a time and in 1909 journeyed to McMinnville, Oregon, where he established his 
headquarters, but traveled throughout the northwest, visiting Seattle, 
Washington, Boise, Idaho, and other cities of importance. Mr. Bell acted as 
manager for W. T. Macy, a prominent undertaker of McMinnville, for a number of 
years and on January 1, 1920, located in Hillsboro, purchasing the business of 
W. O. Donelson, which he has since conducted. In connection therewith he 
inaugurated an ambulance service, which was the first in operation in 
Washington county, and has always kept not only abreast of the times but in 
advance of them. Years of study and experience have made him an expert 
embalmer and in equipment, appointments and efficiency of operation his 
establishment ranks with the best of the kind in this part of the state.

     Mr. Bell was married in McMinnville in 1913 to Miss Dorothy A. Miller, a 
native of Yamhill county, Oregon, and a daughter of John A. and Martha 
(Morgan) Miller, who were married in Iowa. Early in the '60s they crossed the 
plains in a covered wagon and settled in Polk county, Oregon, when that region 
was a wilderness. Mr. Miller has passed away and his widow continues to make 
her home in McMinnville. Mr. and Mrs. Bell are the parents of two sons, Dale 
Eugene and Gordon McDonald, the former a native of McMinnville and the latter 
of Hillsboro, and they also have an adopted daughter, Jeanne.

     While a resident of McMinnville, Mr. Bell was a councilman and is now 
filling the office of county coroner, possessing exceptional qualifications 
for this branch of public service. As a trustee of the Episcopal school he has 
been a force for moral and spiritual uplift in Hillsboro, whose progress he 
has also furthered along material lines. He was one of the prime movers in the 
organization of the Chamber of Commerce, of which he was the first president 
and is now a member of its board of directors. Along fraternal lines he is 
connected with the Benevolent Protective Order of Elks, the Independent Order 
of Odd Fellows and the Knights of Pythias. He is also a York Rite Mason and 
Shriner and both he and his wife are connected with the Eastern Star. Mrs. 
Bell is likewise identified with the Pythian Sisters and the Daughters of 
Rebekah. In the fall of 1920 Mr. Bell was the delegate from Oregon to the 
national convention of funeral directors at Springfield, Massachusetts, and 
the paper which he read before that gathering occasioned much favorable 
comment. He has won an enviable position in his chosen field of endeavor and 
possesses those qualities which inspire strong and enduring regard.

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