Greensburg man was local icon at Mt. Odin

For nearly 40 years, Russ Bell was Mr. Mt. Odin.

If you were a golfer and you lived in Greensburg, chances are you knew the good-natured man who guided the expansion of the city golf course from nine to 18 holes and made sure the greens at the course were perfect until his retirement in 1998.

“He retired after 39 years as superintendent at Mt. Odin. My dad was a great guy. Everybody knew him. He saw a lot of golf pros and council members and mayors come and go,” said Thomas Bell, one of Mr. Bell’s sons.

Russell E. Bell, 82, of Greensburg, died Tuesday, Dec. 24, 2019 at Redstone Highlands.

He was born Sept. 18, 1937, in Latrobe, a son of the late Thomas and Emma Thomas Bell.

Mr. Bell and his wife, the late Dorothy L. Novello Bell, raised their three children — two sons and a daughter — in their home at Mt. Odin to value a sense of family and carry on their traditions.

“We still all get together,” said Mr. Bell’s other son, Daniel. “We’d all gather to have dinner with my dad every Sunday and holidays, even when he was at Redstone Highlands. Whether it was Memorial Day or the Fourth of July, we were always there with him. That’s just the way we were brought up.”

“I wanted to be just like him,” Thomas said. “After he retired, I took over as superintendent of the golf course and stayed there until 2016. Not many people get to live out their dreams. I did.”

Mr. Bell was an avid hunter, a love he passed along to Daniel. The two spent countless hours traipsing through the woods hunting deer around the family’s Clearfield County hunting camp until declining health forced the elder Mr. Bell to give up his passion.

“He was my hero,” Daniel said. “I still keep looking for him, expecting him to walk out of the woods when I go hunting there now.”

Thomas said his father’s skill set made him indispensable at Mt. Odin and on many volunteer projects in and around Greensburg.

“My dad was one of a kind. He’d do anything for anyone,” Thomas said. “He was a problem solver. He was one heck of a mechanic. Everybody turned to him.

”He was great friends with the fire Chief Eddie Hutchinson. He helped build the Aerobic Center and worked on other projects with him. He was never a fireman, but if Hutch had a project going, you could be pretty sure he was in the background somewhere.”

In addition to his sons Thomas (Kami) and Daniel (Cynthia), both of Greensburg, Mr. Bell is survived by a daughter, Darcy Evangelist (William), of Jeannette; four grandchildren and two great grandchildren; a brother, Kenneth Bell and a sister, Patty Horner, both of Latrobe.

Relatives and friends are invited to celebrate the life of Russell Bell from 6 p.m. to 8 p.m. Saturday at Clement L. Pantalone Funeral Home, Inc., 409 W. Pittsburgh St., Greensburg. Internment will be in Twin Valley Memorial Park, Delmont.

The family suggested memorial donations be directed to the American Cancer Society, 510 Pellis Road, Suite 203, Greensburg, Pa. 15601.