Virginia Sparks Bell January 31, 1936 – January 21, 2019 Share this obituary Send Flowers Sign Guestbook| Send Private Condolences| Send Sympathy Card Virginia Sparks Bell died January 21, 2019 at Windham House in Hattiesburg, MS. Visitation will be held at Hartman Jones Funeral Home, 1801 Delaware Avenue, McComb, MS 39648 on Saturday from 11-2. At her request, Mrs. Bell requested to be cremated with her ashes scattered in the hills of Alabama.
Virginia Bell was born on January 31, 1936 in Birmingham, AL. She was the daughter of the late John Franklin Sparks, SR and Lena King Sparks of Birmingham, AL and Lynn Haven, FL where they retired. She was the sixth of seven Sparks children.
She graduated from Phillips High School in Birmingham and attended the University of Alabama for four years majoring in Business Administration. After college, Mrs. Bell moved to Jackson, MS where she worked at Deposit Guaranty Bank as a secretary in the loan department. She met her husband while working at Deposit Guaranty.
Mrs. Bell also worked at Dumas Milner Enterprises for several years as well as for the late Judge Summer when he was associated with Underwood Homes. In 1970, she moved to McComb with her family. She was a homemaker and a member of J.J. White Presbyterian Church, where she served as secretary of the Women of the Church for several years and assisted in the church office several summers.
Mrs. Bell served on the Howdycrat Board of the Chamber of Commerce. Beginning in 1971, when her children started school at Parklane Academy, she served as room mother for many years and on the Parent-Faculty Board. As a special service, she brought crafts to the classes of her sons while they were in elementary school.
She instigated the basketball players program for the junior high/ high school and compiled it for six years. She began her employment at Parklane in 1982, became secretary in 1985 until she retired in June 2000. She enjoyed her three year retirement, although she went back to Parklane for four more years, finally retiring in May 2007 at the age of 71.
Mrs. Bell considered it a blessing to work with the faculty and very rewarding to watch her sons and students mature into responsible adults. Her pride were her two sons, Jim and Mike. She was a den mother for two years with the Cub Scouts.
Her hobbies included reading, working in the yard, playing cards, enjoying life with her family, and traveling to Panama City and Gulf Shores to visit family. She was preceded in death by her parents, her husband, James W. Bell Sr., and sisters Mary Helen Sparks Warner of Panama City,FL, Marjorie Caroline Sparks Cosby of Daphne, AL, Shirley Sparks Vincent, of Enterprise, AL, and Patsy Sparks, a sister in law; two brothers- Jack King Sparks of Suffolk, VA, John F. Sparks, Jr. of Bell, FL. Survivors include her two sons, James W. Bell( Jim) and Michael S. Bell of Hattiesburg, her brother Michael Sparks of Red Bay, AL, sisters-in-law Marcia Sparks of Suffolk, VA, and Irene Sparks of Cross City, FL; and numerous and loved nieces and nephews.
In lieu of flowers, Mrs. Bell asks that donations be made to one of her charities. - Paralyzed Veterans of America, Wounded Warrior , or St. Jude.
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