Remembering Simon Bell

                   

                                                Simon Bell  

            

                    

It was August 15, 1995, the day of Mickey Mantle's funeral in Dallas, Texas. Bob Costas, a NBC sports announcer, gave the eulogy. Bobby Richardson, a former teammate, also spoke about their memories of playing professional baseball for the New York Yankees. Bobby, a lay minister, spent many of Mantle's final hours praying with him and preparing him for the end.

Approximately 500 miles to the northeast of Dallas another funeral was taking place in Purdy, Tennessee. It was the graveside services for Simon Bell, a retired janitor, who died as the result of cancer just like Mantle. His burial place was in Purdy Wright Cemetery, an overgrown remote burial plot that had several graves marked with rocks. It was unlike the final resting site of the Hall of Famer who was buried in the well kept and popular Sparkman-Hillcrest Memorial Park Cemetery in Texas. As the sports nation was saying goodbye to a baseball legend, a few men gathered around the casket to say goodbye to the former janitor.

Visiting his gravesite and viewing his headstone recently with Fred Carroll, now over twenty-six years since that August day in 1995, I began to reminisce about the life of Simon Bell and some of my memories of him.

I first met Simon in 1974. He served as the lone janitor for Adamsville High School at the time. I remember telling Mr. Chisholm, the principal, that, as the basketball coach, I would keep the gym clean and that Simon did not need to do anything but clean the gym after ball games. Simon really liked that arrangement. It was at that point that Simon Bell and I became friends. He would later receive some additional help when the school board hired Allen Smith as a second janitor for the school.

Simon, an African American, reportedly had a third grade education and served in the Pacific theater during World War II. Growing up in East Tennessee, he would eventually move to Gleason, Tennessee before coming south to Adamsville. Rather small in stature, he walked with his right foot slightly outward causing him move at a slower pace. He seemed to always have a smile on his face. He lived north of Adamsville just outside the  city limits. In the spring and summer months he would find extra employment mowing yards. Living with Lessie White in what some would call a common law marriage, he did not have any children. I know very little more about him, except that his memory is special to me and worthy of remembrance. 

I never remember his saying an unkind word about anybody. He would let you borrow anything he had, including his prized Snapper riding lawn mower. In the over twenty years that he worked as a janitor, I remember that he missed no more than five days of school. Always dependable, he was the first employee to open the school each morning. 

On one particular cold winter morning near the end of his working career, Simon's car would not start. Not wanting to call someone that early in the morning to come and get him, he walked over five miles to school in the extreme cold. When I arrived around 7 o'clock, he was sitting in the lobby shivering. He could not get warm. Little did I know that he was experiencing health problems, cancer, that would eventually take his life. He was dependable and loyal to a fault. Everyone at AHS loved Simon including the students. Such a humble man. I never saw him angry or outwardly frustrated.

The 1981-82 school year was the first year at the new facility. The school had grown and there were now three janitors--Maynard Smith, Troy Shelton, and Simon. By that time I had become principal of the school and the policy which was begun with Simon previously in the old school continued--janitors still had no responsibility in the gym except to clean after games.

 It was one of those mornings and all three janitors got to school early to clean the bleachers and the other areas that were dirty since there had been a game the night before. Troy Shelton, another valuable employee, along with Maynard decided to play a joke on Simon. When they caught Simon with his back turned, Troy took a $100 bill from his billfold and threw it on the foot space of the bleachers. He then excitedly said, "Look what I found!" They said that Simon could not believe it and the expression on his face was something to behold. 

They finished their cleaning in the gym and then moved into the concession area where they would mop and clean. On this particular morning they had finished, and as I was making my rounds before school, I stopped to talk to them. Troy told me about the hundred dollar joke privately. As all three employees were sitting on the counter waiting for the freshly mopped floor to dry, I asked them if they had seen a $100.00 bill while cleaning the bleachers. I told them that I received a call from a person who had lost that money at last night's game. They all remained quiet. I even asked Simon individually. He was quick to respond--no! We all laughed, including Simon. That was Simon. He was not going to show Troy or anyone up. Part of that was how he was raised and lived as an African American in the rural south. Sadly, he understood that a black man did not reveal evidence against a white person. 

Another time I took him to Dr. Hoover because of a severe toothache. When we got out of the truck, he immediately started walking toward the back door of the dentist office. I stopped him and instructed him, "No--come with me." We went through the front entrance. When I told Doc about his heading to the back door, Doc immediately said, "Simon, you must always come to the front door!" Although he had experienced unfair treatment from some people in his earlier life, he continued to demonstrate a kind spirit to everyone he met. Even when treated poorly, he never responded with resentment, bitterness, or hatred. He was just a good man who gave us an example of leadership through humility.

People of Adamsville, a predominately white community, who knew Simon loved him. This was evident one year when a business came to our area selling aluminum siding. Simon decided to have it put on his house. Not being able to read the fine print or for that matter read very much, he signed the agreement. The job was finished and the company began to send monthly bills to him. He simply threw them in the trash. He did not understand how the finance agreement worked. 

Finally, the business began to take legal action against him. Tommy Ross, the CEO at the Bank of Adamsville, intervened and came to his rescue. Mr. Ross arranged a loan from the bank so Simon could pay the company and keep him from losing his house. Simon was always thankful for that gracious act by Tommy. Simon then paid the loan off because he knew Tommy. But more importantly Tommy Ross knew Simon and could communicate with him. People took care of  Simon Bell. He always paid his bills. I never remember his using profanity. Although he did smoke some, I never ever saw him drunk from alcohol or drugs. 

Simon wanted me to help him with his financial/health matters during his last days. I would take him to his cancer doctor in Jackson, Tennessee. I helped to sell his house and car. Tommy Ross arranged for me to set up an account for him at the bank as I made arrangements for him and Lessie to go to the Adamsville Nursing Home, where they would spend their last days. 

Tommy and the bank took care of managing their financial needs. I was able to to purchase a burial policy for both of them at Shackleford Funeral Home and headstones for their final resting place. Dora Nichols, a relative and employee at the nursing home, helped them with their personal needs. She would contact Tommy at the bank when funds were needed to purchase necessary items. When they died there was enough money left over for a modest scholarship to be awarded for African American students at AHS who planned to go to college.

On that warm August day at the Purdy Wright Cemetery, the only people at the graveside services were Don Todd, Fred Carroll, Royce Rickman, Allen Bruce, Larry Russell, and me.  We were the pallbearers. I spoke about Simon and compared his farewell to that of Mickey Mantle. This humble man left the world a better place. He loved Adamsville High School. He was not a hall of famer like Mantle but he was a good man who did his best. 

As a young boy growing up in the 1950s and 1960s, I would watch Mickey Mantle and the Yankees play baseball every Saturday and Sunday on CBS.  Unlike today, those were the only times that games were televised.  The "Mick" was our hero and my friends and I always wanted to be like him. 

But as I made my closing remarks that day about Simon Bell, one of the most humble men I have ever known, I am convinced now that the memories of him are more precious to me today than those of Mickey Mantle. In Micah 6:8 the prophet penned, "What does God require of you ,O man, but to do justly, love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God."  Simon may have demonstrated this scripture far more than the elite we consider to be hall of famers or those who have thousands at their funerals. But for Simon there were only six faculty members who taught at the school where he was a janitor. 

Remember, I believe we are all leaders regardless of our position.