Martha Baggarly Bell Daniel

Born December 24, 1919, in Valdosta, Georgia, Martha Baggarly grew up in Macon, Georgia, where she graduated from Miller High School before attending Tift College where she received her B.A. in English.

Throughout her formative years, she was active in the Baptist Church and in college she attended statewide Baptist Student Union conventions.  After college, she taught school in Dudley, Georgia, for one year before returning to Macon, where she taught a college-age Sunday School class at the First Baptist Church.  There she met the young Augusta lawyer and 1933 ARC graduate, John Chapman Bell, who was in Macon on active duty at Camp Wheeler.  John introduced her to his friend in Augusta, Dick Daniel, who encouraged John to marry Martha; they married six months later.

 

When the Bells settled in Augusta, Martha Bell began teaching young adult and later adult Sunday school classes at Augusta’s First Baptist, which she continued for decades.  She served as president of the church’s WMU and was a delegate for the church to the Southern Baptist Convention and Georgia Baptist Convention.  She also began teaching a course in English as a second language, which she continued into her eighties.  The church recognized her work with the Trailblazer Award for women, advancing the role of women in the church’s governance.  During this time, Bell supported her husband’s career in law and his service as a member of the Georgia House of Representatives, while raising their daughter and two sons.

 

Tragically, in April 1967, John Bell Sr. died, leaving Martha a widow.  At that time, she returned to teaching as a faculty member in English at the Academy of Richmond Academy.  She later served as the assistant principal of ARC and then as Director of Personnel for the Richmond County Board of Education.  In 1971, she received a Masters degree in English Education followed by a Specialist in English Education. 

 

Martha Bell had never remarried in those years, but fifty-eight years after her marriage to John Bell, in December 2000, she married their long-time friend Dick Daniel, himself a widower.  The two worked together on First Baptist Church’s Long Range Planning Committee.

 

Throughout her adult life, Bell was active in the community.  She was a strong supporter of the arts, including the Augusta Symphony and Augusta Opera.  She rarely missed performances.  She served on the board of the Augusta YWCA, including as chair, and on the board of the Imperial Theater as secretary.  She was an accomplished gardener and very active in her Garden Club.  She travelled extensively, including trips with grandchildren.  She passed away in 2018 at the age of ninety-eight.