funny. “Police showed up at our house with machine guns and dogs,” Hodges said. Like her siblings, Annie Weld learned to sail at an early age and accompanied her parents on sailing trips offGuatemala and in the Caribbean. On her father’s 18-day trip across the Atlantic in his trimaran to start a race in England, she stood night watches along with other young people aboard. “Annie was an adventurer,” Hodges said. On her return from a semester studying in Italy, Mrs. Bell enrolled at Brandeis University working for one day as a Boston taxi driver and for a longer time as a waitress at Durgin Park. After graduating from Brandeis in 1971, Mrs. Bell hitchhiked across country and into Mexico. Later she earned a graduate degree from Georgia State University and also worked as an assistant teacher at a rural school in Wampee, S.C. She married Mac Stewart Bell in 1979. A tall and slender woman, Mrs. Bell had grace and equanimity that came, in part, from a life “that exemplified the teachings of Meher Baba, a spiritual master,” Hodges said. “Annie celebrated her faith with frequent journeys to the Meher Spiritual Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina, as well as pilgrimages to his home in Meherazad, Ahmednagar, India. The following was one ofher favorite quotations ofMeher Baba: “True love is unconquerable and irresist— ible. Ilgoes on gatheringpower and spreading itse(f until eventually it tran.’forms everyone it touches.”
Mrs. Bell had “some sort of gift with people,” said a longtime friend, Gregor Gibson of Gloucester. “Her genuine and deep care for people seemed to come from somewhere beyond our mundane existence.” Mrs. Bell also cared deeply for animals and kept a menagerie of dogs, chickens, songbirds, and one cat. She was devoted to her Gloucester community Hodges said. “She reveled in its celebrations, St. Peter’s Fiesta and the Sidewalk Bazaar.” While Mrs. Bell excelled at many things, friends said, “it was her mothering that inspired all of us,” said her friend Annie Thomas of Gloucester. “She had infinite patience and a tremendous capacity for fun. When she went skating with her kids, she was the first one on the ice and the last one off. Her children returned her devotion, surrounding her with loving care in the days leading up to her death. ‘Annie loved books and read to her children every night. She was whimsical and the most compassionate and nonjudgmental person I ever met. “She did have an ethereal quality about her, but 24
Annie’s husband Mac of 25 years and their five children deftly planned a perfect celebration which included moments of silence, with Jane Brown setting the tone singing the Gujerati Arti, and Buz Connor leading us all in Begin The Day which Annie’s children and Will David sang often with Annie. Cathy Riley and a teacher from theWaldorfSchoolled us all in a round, The River Is Flowing.
she also had an earthiness and a sense of the absurdity oflife.” In addition to her husband, Mac, Annie is survived by her five incred ible children, Pip, 23, Winnie, 22, Sam, 19, Sylvie, 17, and Joe, 11; her three sisters, Eloise W. Hodges of Essex, Katharine W. Harding of Neskowin, OR, and Helen W. Weld ofYungaburra, Queensland, Australia, her mother and father-in-law, Richard and Winnie Bell of Gloucester and Sanibel, Florida, her sisters- and brothers-in-law and 16 nieces and nephews. Her beloved menag erie of dogs, a cat, chickens, and songbirds will never forget her. She is predeceased by her brother Philip S.WeldJr. and her parents Anne Warren Weld and Philip S. Weld. Annie died on the twelfth anniversary of her mother’s death.
/kmorial &ruice 1 The J’ .2<atharine 2larding, Oregon (/1nnie’s sister) October 30th over 1,000 friends gathered under a huge tent on a stormy Gloucester day to celebrate Annie’s beautiful life. The outpouring of love from a varied circle of friends demonstrated that Annie and her family have generously opened their hearts, and welcomed into their home, friends from all walks of life and from all over the world. Annie saw the sweetness in everyone and always wanted to know about others’ family events and stories. Many people did not know the gravity of her illness because Annie artfblly steered the focus away from her health by asking after others’ well-being.
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In addition to the lovely singing, friends and family shared different facets ofAnnie’s life. Everyone learned that Annie and her childhood friends willingly got themselves into naughty escapades; that Annie never wore a watch, yet she passed away exactly 12 years to the hour that her mother had died in the same beautiful room; that she loved animals and the St. Francis Prayer. Everyone gathered knew how devoted Annie was to their five children, Pip,Winnie, Sam, Sylvie andJoe. Their gracious poise throughout the day, first greeting guests then surrounding Mac on the stage as he spoke about Annie’s beauty, was deeply touching. In her last days Mac and all five cared for Annie, tending to every detail. As Mac said, it was a “perfect home death.” Winnie ended the ceremony by repeating the toast her mother had made nd at Winnie’s 22 birthdayjust 3 days before she died. “I love you all, none ofthis would have been possible without you. I see us all in a stream. Now we are in the shadows but we are coming to the sunlight, there is always the sunlight.” Avatar Meher Baba ki Jai! After the ceremony, guests shared in the huge community potluck, they heard more singing and stories about Annie, and they danced until late in the night. It was just as festive as Annie would have liked because she loved parties! Annie’s interests and community work were characteristically unknown to many. She exemplified Baba’s wish for us all to be a part of our communities and to reach out to everyone with love. She went to Beloved Baba holding fast to His damaan and re membering Him until the very end.