Wilford Ether (Johnnie) Bell was born 11 November 1897 in Weston, Franklin County, Idaho to Charles Morris and Jane Panting Bell. He was the youngest of thirteen children. He was tow-headed as a child and as he grew older, his hair got darker. He had brown eyes and was a very handsome man. When he was a child, he was stubborn and bull headed so his sisters called him Johnnie Bull. As he got older they dropped the bull and then he was always called Johnnie for the rest of his life. Of course he was always Wilford to his mother and most of the family.

The family moved from Weston to Lava Hot Springs while Johnnie was a very young child. Grandma Jane Bell used to tell the story of the time when she and Johnnie were walking across the bridge by the millstream and Johnnie fell off the bridge. Jane caught him by his dress and was able to get him back on the bridge. She said that if he had been wearing pants as boys do now she would not have been able to get him out.

His sisters used to get upset with him when he would get up in the early morning, go to the breadbox, and eat the crust off the bread. He would also do this with fresh baked bread if he had the opportunity. His mother would not let the girls do anything to him. She said if he was hungry let him eat. He kept this one trait all his life. Whenever we had homemade bread, he wanted the crust.

He attended school in Lava Hot Springs. He would to school each year after the fall work was done. He would attend until spring. Then he would quit and help his father either on the farm or at the mill. Finally, the principal came one day and got him out of a ditch he was digging and took him to school to take an examination. He passed the exam and was finally graduated from the eighth grade.

Johnnie and Marvin decided they wanted to get more schooling. It was decided that Marvin would go to school for a year and Johnnie would work and help him. Then Johnnie would go to school the next year while Marvin worked. Marvin got married and Johnnie went into the army, so school was forgotten. Johnnie helped his father with their horses. He always liked a good horse. He also worked for a time as a delivery boy in a store owned by Lizzie and Dave Aslett.

Johnnie served in the army during World War I. He never talked much about the war. He was in the quartermaster corp in France. He and his buddy were both twenty-one years old the day the Armistice was signed. What better birthday present could two young soldiers receive? Johnnie did say he got seasick going over and coming back. He did not care for the sea.

After the war, he returned to Lava for a while. He then went to several other areas to work. He and Marion Bell went to Casper, Wyoming. He fed cattle in West Yellowstone. He worked in a store in Superior, Wyoming. Then he moved to Winton, Wyoming where his sister Jennie and her husband Sam Mason were living. Here he worked in a candy store and pool hall for a while, then worked with a carpenter, and finally he went to work in the mine.

It was at this time he met Helen Freeman. A mutual friend introduced them at a Halloween dance in Winton. They danced together several times that evening and by the time the dance was over, they had a date to go to a road show on the next Wednesday in Rock Spring, Wyoming. About one year later, they were married. Their first home was in Winton, Wyoming. While they were living in Winton, their first child, Helen Marie was born on October 5, 1928. Johnnie belonged to the mine rescue squad and always attended all the first aid classes given.

Two years later the family moved to Dines, Wyoming. This was another mining camp located just over the hill from Winton. Here John Morris (Jack) was born March 23, 1931. Johnnie worked at the tipple, dropped cars and eventually became a mine mechanic and electrician. This was during the depression and to help the financial situation Johnnie and another fellow worked on automobiles in their spare time. The family lived in several houses in Dines. Each time they moved, Johnnie would dig a cellar and build shelves for fruit and meat that Helen bottled. He built a rock porch and driveway at one house. He rewired most of the houses the family lived in. He liked to keep busy, a trait he never lost. He did get a little more schooling while living in Dines. He completed a correspondence course in Electricity and Wiring.

He always liked to go hunting and fishing. Every year he would get his deer, elk, antelope and one year even a moose. He did not have a permit for the moose. It was in the late afternoon one day while he was hunting for elk. He saw this animal off at some distance and thought it wan an elk, so he shot and killed it. When he got to it he found out he had shot a moose. He signaled the guide, who was also a game warden. This was typical of Johnnie; he did not want to waste the meat even though he had broken the law. The guide had to take him in. It ended up costing him his gun and a few dollars that his buddy had for the fine. Later a friend told him that he had been to a dinner and ate the moose. It was real good meat. In the summer the family would go up to the Wind River mountains fishing as often as they could. They also rode around all the roads on the desert and mountains around the area. They would take a picnic lunch and never knew just where they were going to eat it but they always had a good time. Bryce Freeman Bell was born on July 19, 1937, while they were still living in Dines, Wyoming.

When Bryce was about two years old, Johnnie was injured in a mine accident. It was very fortunate that he was not killed. Other miners said that the only thing that saved his life was the fact that the cardox shell which backfired into the mine, hit a few timbers before it hid Johnnie. He was in the hospital for about a month. As a result of this accident he became quite stooped and arthritis set in. This did cause him quite a bit of pain both at the time of the accident and later in life. One blessing that came from the accident was that while he was recuperating he took Helen and the three children to the Logan Temple on October 20, 1939 and were sealed for time and eternity by his Uncle Adelbert Cranney.

Johnnie was the Sunday School superintendent for the Winton Branch of the Rock Spring Ward. In the winter, he would get there early to get a fire going in the stove for the one room church. For classes, there were curtains that divided the room into classrooms. The children could not make a lot of noise or their parents would hear them. Johnnie also served a Stake mission.

Wilford Earl Bell (Bill) was born November 25, 1940 while the family was still living in Dines. The following July the family moved to Randolph, Utah were Johnnie took over a garage business. He had enough money to move the family and a few dollars for change for the cash register. He really started on a shoestring, but he and Helen worked hard. She kept books for him and they turned it into a good thriving business.

People liked Johnnie and came to trust him. They knew that he would never cheat them and that they could depend on his word. In later years when he delivered furnace oil to the people of Randolph and Woodruff, he was very conscientious and tried never to let anyone run out of fuel. At the time of his death many people expressed how grateful they had been for this.

He was active in church in Randolph also. He served several years in the Sunday School superintendency and was superintendent for many years. He organized the junior Sunday School in Randolph. He was also active in civic affairs. He served several years on the town board, he was a charter member of the Randolph Lions Club, a member of the American Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars.

He was always interested in the youth. For years he wouldn't miss a basketball game either at home or away if he could possible get there. They would usually go to the State Tournament. He wouldn't miss a game all day. For several years he treated all the ball team to a steak dinner at the end of the season. This was his way of saying "Thank You" to them. He also supported the 4H program in any way he could.

Johnnie died at the home of his son Bryce in Hoytsville, Utah on June 28, 1976. He was laid to rest in the Randolph Cemetery, a spot where he had worked diligently for several years to beautify and make a lovely resting place.