MURIEL “TOMMIE” WILCOX BELL
Muriel was born October 1st, 1925 in Sheridan, Wyoming to Albyn
Adams Wilcox and Evelyn Black Wilcox. She went through the veil on
November 19, 2001. She got her nickname “Tommie”
because she loved the outdoors and was a tomboy. She
had an enthusiasm for life and always was actively
engaged in good works.
Tommie went to Oberlin College, a private liberal arts college
in Oberlin, Ohio. Founded in 1833, it was the first U.S. College
to admit women and the first to admit black students on an
equal footing with whites. In its early years it was a station on
the Underground Railroad. She packed her bags and rode
the train to Oberlin. There she studied P.E. and played
softball. She played catcher and played long after the boys were born. She learned to
play the accordion and played it often for her boys. She also took some art classes. She once
painted a crested wood-duck on canvas. Unfortunately, there she picked up the habit of smoking. She
was smoking three packs of cigarettes a day when she quit cold turkey, many years later. She was
grumpy for a year.
She met her future husband Thomas Alton Bell at the University of Wyoming. They had three
sons very quickly: Alan Wilcox, David Alton, and James Russell. The three hooligans gave their
mother a run for her money, always playing pranks on her and getting
into mischief. Once they hid between the buildings (about 18 inches
wide) on Main Street as they watched her going up and down the
sidewalk getting more worried as the minutes passed. Another time the
three turned on the water at the cemetery near the home they lived in
and sunk several graves. Another time, they passed the time by
throwing paring knives into the wall of the living room while their
parents were gone. They would all remember the visit from the police
chief after they started a fire in a
vacant lot.
She enjoyed being
outdoors. She loved to
picnic and fish.
She grew beautiful
flowers and had a
bountiful vegetable
garden—enough to sell
the extra produce or give
it to friends and neighbors. She took great pleasure in mowing
the lawn and hated to give it up when it was time for the boys to take over the chore.
She loved to swim and would go to the Lander pool and do her laps even into her 70’s. She
was an enthusiastic bike rider and often would ride the 5 mile
loop north of Lander until she became ill at the end of her life.
Tommie was a bowler and was on a bowling team. She used
to take her 3 young boys to the bowling lanes to watch the
weekly matches. She received several trophies for her skills.
Tommie loved to bake. She was famous for her cinnamon
rolls. She made tollhouse, sugar, and ginger cookies. She
often baked bread. She learned to can some of her produce
from the garden: pickles and beets, jellies and jams.
She brought home a miniature orange tree from a California
trip and kept it for years. She also grew orchids and gave one to her daughter-in-law, Sharon on
her wedding day.
Tommie was afraid of rattlesnakes. Once one came into their yard and she ran for the .22 rifle.
Tom laughed at her and asked her why she didn’t chop of its head with a shovel and she said
that she wasn’t getting that close to one!
Tommie also liked to hook rugs—she made several, including one of the University of Wyoming
Cowboy and another one of roses. She also made a “rag rug” from scraps, braiding it into a
large oval. It was very colorful.
Tommie loved the Lord, Jesus Christ. She hunted the truth for many years, attending many
denominations to find a church she liked. (She never did investigate the LDS church, but later in
life admitted that the LDS church had good “fruits”.) She studied the Bible voraciously. She
was a faithful tithe payer. When her boys were teen-agers, they joined The Church of Christ,
where she taught Sunday School. Psalm 121 was one of her favorite scriptures.
One spring Saturday, the Sunday School class was doing a service project out on the North Fork
road where they lived. The class, chaperoned and encouraged by Tommie, was picking up trash
along the road. They came across a strong, rotting smell and then one of the kids pulled on a
sock and found a foot attached. She quickly took the kids into her yard and called the police. In
the fall, two teenage girls had disappeared. One had been found now. The police searched all
up and down the road and found the other girl’s body in a culvert. One of the members of the
Sunday School class was the sister of one of the murdered victims. It was a sad and traumatic
day.
Tom and Tommie had almost raised their boys when they adopted
Victor. Jim was 14, so they were starting a new family. About 6
years later, they added two daughters, Rachel (4) and Christine (3).
Besides being older, now they had to figure out how to raise girls!!
They took their small family to Oregon to try to make it by living on
the land, supplemented by Tom teaching. After a few years, they
came back to Lander where Tommie happily renewed friendships
and joined the Four-Square Church.
Tommie was buried in the Lander, Wyoming cemetery.