Barbara Bell Scanlan

Barbara Bell Scanlan of Hockessin, DE, age 93, passed away peacefully, surrounded by family, at Cokesbury Village on June 7, 2023.

Barbara was born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1929, daughter of Kenneth C. and Katherine T. Bell.  She grew up in Scarsdale, New York, her home until she was married.

She attended Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts, and met George A. Scanlan on a blind date her sophomore year while he was attending Amherst College. She graduated in 1951 and the following year attended the Katherine Gibbs School in New York City.

Barbara and George married in 1952.  They began their married life in Seaford, Delaware, where George worked for the DuPont Company.  In 1958, they transferred to Wilmington where they raised three children: Laura, Jeffrey, and James.  Once James was in high school, Barbara went to work for an architectural firm in Wilmington, the Furniture Exchange in Greenville, as placement director for the Katherine Gibbs School in Philadelphia, and as office manager for a Wilmington law firm.

In anticipation of George’s retirement, they bought a summer home on China Lake, Maine, and moved their primary residence to Chadds Ford, Pennsylvania.  Over time, they spent their entire summers on the lake where Barbara enjoyed working in her gardens, entertaining family, friends and relatives, and waterskiing into her early-80s.

Barbara enjoyed life-long associations with Mount Holyoke College, the Junior League of Wilmington, the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and Westminster Presbyterian Church.  She was an animal lover as evidenced by her fashion accessories that depicted animals, charitable contributions, commissions of paintings of family pets, and her love and care for grand-dog, Bailey.

Barbara was predeceased by her sister, Dr. Marjorie Bell Chambers of Los Alamos, New Mexico.  She is survived by her devoted husband, George, daughter Laura A. Scanlan (Tom Preston) of Wilmington, DE; son Jeffrey G. Scanlan (Diane) of Half Moon Bay, CA; James G. Scanlan and his partner Natasha Latina of Wilmington, DE, and grandchildren Caroline Scanlan (Benjamin Bechtolsheim), E. Mackenzie Scanlan (Evan Skorpen), David Scanlan, and Lange Scanlan.

The family is most grateful for and comforted by the compassionate care Barbara received from the healthcare staff of Cokesbury Village, the Acts Hospice staff and the pastoral staff of Westminster Presbyterian Church.