Obit – Ms. Gloria Bell Dillard
A quiet and sweet spirited lady, Ms. Gloria Bell Dillard, has transitioned from her earthly life to her heavenly home to join the Angels in Heaven with her loving family at her bedside. She was pronounced deceased at 7:45 a.m. Wednesday morning May 17, 2023 at the Alive Hospice Residence in Murfreesboro.
A funeral service to celebrate her joyful life will be conducted on Saturday afternoon May 27th at 1 p.m. from the Carthage Chapel of Sanderson Funeral Home. Her brother-in-law, Pastor Woodrow W. Harris Jr. will officiate the celebration assisted by her cousin, Pastor Preston Carter. Burial will be near other family members in the Circle Park section at the Smith County Memorial Gardens.
Her family will receive friends at Sanderson in Carthage on Saturday May 27th beginning at noon until the service beginning at 1 p.m.
She was one of four children, three daughters and a son born to the late Thomas Lee Bell who departed this earth on November 21, 1997 at the age of 74 and her sweet mother, Willie Mai Lucille Bell who departed this earth on January 8, 1988 at the early age of 58.
Her loving brother, Melvin LeVon Bell died at the young age of 39 on May 26, 1987 after suffering a massive heart attack and another brother, James Timberlake also preceded her in death at the age of 74 on August 24, 2017.
Also preceding her in death were her grandparents, Lena Gray who died at the age of 85 on May 26, 1987, Herman Harris who did at the age of 78 on August 26, 1989 and his wife Mamie Bell Harris who died at the age of 92 on June 29, 1999.
A brother-in-law, Marshall Edward Boyd died November 4, 2018 at the age of 58 and two nieces, Lindsay Danielle Knox-Majors who died as the result of an automobile accident at the age of 31 on November 27, 2021 and Ryann Alyse Erves who died at the age of 12 on January 27, 2020 suffering from asthma.
Ms. Dillard was a member of the 1970 graduating class at Smith County High School where she majored in home economics, a class she took all four years. She was also a member of the Pep Club, Spanish Club and also the spring and fall festivals.
It was stated of her in the ‘70 S.C.H.S. annual; “Manners alone beam dignity on all.”
She received her Associates of Art degree from Tennessee State University in Nashville in business education.
Ms. Dillard accepted her Lord as her personal Savior at an early age at the Mt. Olive Baptist Church in Carthage. Later in life she joined the Mt. Zion Baptist Church in Antioch where she served on the Usher Board as long as her health permitted.
Leaving behind to cherish Gloria’s memories is her beloved son, Thomas LeBrandon Dillard of Mount Juliet, two sisters, Linda Bell Harris and husband Pastor Woodrow W. Harris Jr. also of Antioch, Cynthia “Cindy” Bell Boyd of Murfreesboro, uncle, Hubert Bell of Lebanon; sister-in-law Elizabeth Timberlake; eight grandchildren, Damaya, LeBrandianna, Teaya, Tatum, Thelea, Cortisia, Markayla, Shamya; nieces, Sonya Byars and husband Jeremy, Camille and husband James, Toccara and husband Rammon, Andrea and Ashley; great nieces and nephews, Isaiah, Braxton, Nicholas, Nathan, Laila, Carmyn, Julian, Charlie, Issac, and one great-grandchild, a host of cousins and friends, too numerous to mention.
SANDERSON of CARTHAGE
