By Marilyn Miller
What do you do when you return to Minden after 19 years, the last three being in Hawaii? You take your family to the Duck Derby Extravaganza and get soaking wet!
But John Dudley (Jay) Bell, Jr. was good with it. He’s just glad to be home, even though he “hit a wall” of tired Thursday night.
Although born in Sarepta, Air Force E-7 Master Sergeant Bell now claims Minden as home, since he and his wife, Lindsay, purchased a house on Chris Drive in April. Oddly enough, that’s when Bell was assigned to conduct a JAG audit at nearby Barksdale Air Force Base. But then, since his stint in Hawaii was up, he was given his choice of three reassignments, Mississippi, Los Angeles, or Barksdale.
So, the family, the Bells have two daughters, arrived in Minden on July 2 and took possession of an empty house. Their furniture won’t be here for another couple of weeks. But having family nearby took care of that problem.
“Wednesday evening (July 2), Jodi and I blew up air mattresses,” recalled Bell’s mother, Jo Strong Shelley. Jodi Tuttle is Bell’s only sister.
How happy is Jo? Indescribable. “All I can say is that the First Baptist Church ‘prayed’ them here,” she said. “I’m just so happy.” One of her first jobs will be teaching her granddaughters how to be grandchildren. “They don’t know how just yet.” But there will probably be a fast learning curb on that one.
Lainie Jo Bell, 16, will be a Senior at Minden High School and Gracelynn Bell, 12, will enter the seventh grade at Webster Jr. High School.
Master Sergeant Bell is a paralegal in the Air Force JAG Corp. He is superintendent for the Legal Office. He was an airborne radar technician the first seven years of his enlistment before retraining for the job of paralegal.
“I’m trying to make it to 24 years, and, hopefully, this will be our last assignment,” Bell, 43, said. He joined the service a little later than some because he first earned a degree in graphic design from Louisiana Tech University. After graduating, he went to work for the graphics department at the Minden Press-Herald for a year.
“But I had a calling to serve, so I joined the military at that point.”
Being a part of the U.S. Air Force has given the Bell family the opportunity to travel all over the world. Bell started out at Tinker AFB in Oklahoma and ended up in Hawaii. Prior to that they were at Aviano Air Base in Italy. And now Barksdale. He also served through four deployments – Curacao looking for drug runners, Libya, taking down Momar Kadafi; Quatar, which is presently “hunkered down,” and a fourth location that he cannot disclose.
Bell’s wife, Lindsay, is trained in criminal justice and as a paralegal. In Hawaii, she was a director for the USDA, but they have no such position here now. She is looking for a job in either criminal justice or the legal profession.
What does the family do for fun? Travel, of course. And Jay plays the guitar. His favorite was handed down to him from his late father, John Dudley Bell, Sr. “It’s a Fender Mustang electric guitar,” Bell said. “And I still have the original amp. I took it to be refurbished and (the owner of the shop) wanted to buy it so badly.” But there was no way he was parting with his father’s guitar and amp.
Bell has many cousins here, and one, Ray Bell, is in the “Good Times Band.” He can picture himself “doing a little playing” with them.
And, of course, he can see himself doing what everyone else does around here.
“Hunting and fishing. I like it.”