Shirley Lynn Bell

Shirley Lynn (Large) Bell was born August 23, 1950, in Hamblen County, TN to Leonard and Reba Large. She married her dear, husband, Steve Bell on April 18, 1992 at the Opryland Hotel in Nashville, TN. She is preceded in death by her parents, Leonard & Reba (Ball) Large; as well as siblings Albert, Larry and Randy Large.

Being the oldest daughter of the family, Shirley liked to blaze the trail for those coming after her, including twirling the first fire batons at Halls High School. Moving a lot with Daddy’s work growing up, Shirley always found her way into sports via basketball or being a majorette.

After leaving high school, Shirley traveled with a magazine crew before coming back home and starting a career with Levi Strauss & Co as a seamstress. During this time, she got involved with the UGWA (United Garment Workers of America) which led her to become an international representative for them and traveled across the southeast working with various manufacturing facilities. She was also a member of the Teamster’s union before moving into a management role in the textile industry.

While working, Shirley pursued her associate’s degree in business from Draughon’s Junior College in Knoxville which allowed her to get into Human resources and led her to Albany, KY where she worked at Osh Kosh B’ Gosh and more importantly met the love of her life.

Shirley always loved fast cars and after being one of the first women in the family to secure a car loan on her own, she quickly moved from Chevelle’s to Camaro’s and then she introduced Steve Bell to her favorite, Corvette’s. She kept Corvette’s over the years and liked to visit the Corvette Museum with family to share her passion. Steve enjoyed their drives in them including going to Keeneland in April for their anniversary.

Before retiring, she was the Human resources director at Cagle Keystone. She and Steve Bell enjoyed retirement together before his passing in 2018. She then moved back to her hometown in TN the following year and lived close to her family.

The family would like to extend a special thank you to those family members that assisted with her care over the last year to make sure she was comfortable and well taken care of. She enjoyed the time with each of them, especially her “sweet boy”, her great nephew Maverick who would bring a smile to her as soon as she heard his giggle or saw his smile.

Shirley is survived by her sisters: Patricia (Butch) Solomon; Kathy (Reb) Croft; Rita (Chris) Lewis; and Regina (Gene) Harmon; as well as her nieces and nephews: ; Josh Shadrick; Gabe Large; Jarad (Lindsay) Large; Nate (Ashley) Croft; Jake (Megan) Croft; Megan Large; Tasha Solomon; Luke Lewis; and her great nieces and nephews: Emily Large; Hailey Large; Xavier Large; Javier Large; Audrey Covert; Bella Hawk; Khloe Irons; Mack Croft; Meli Croft; Joshua Shadrick; Ben Croft; Henry Croft; Maggie Croft; Lincoln Croft and Maverick Irons.

Services will be held on Tuesday, Sept. 8th at Talbott Funeral Home 10am – 1pm (CST) with Bro. Melvin Daniel officiating. Final resting place will be in Burchett cemetery.