Mary Jo Bell

Mary Jo Bell was born August 26, 1934, near Flo in Leon County, Texas. She died March 30, 2025, in Centerville, Texas. Mary Jo was the fifth child of her parents, William Ernest and Mary Adeline “Lina” Johnson Bell. She spent her childhood in Leon County, and attended school in Centerville. When she was a teenager, her parents moved to Milford, Texas. 

In 1953 Mary Jo met her future husband, Marvin Frederick Ehrlich, who was serving in the military. While on a road trip to The Bronx, New York City, to meet Marvin’s parents, they stopped in LaFayette County, Arkansas where they were married on April 15, 1953. Upon arriving in the Bronx, Mary Jo found her new mother-in-law to be a very good cook. Mrs. Ehrlich taught her to make the best spaghetti ever. Mary Jo did not like the Bronx describing it as, “...the ugliest place I have ever seen.”

After living with Marvin’s parents for a short time, the couple moved to Georgia where their daughter, Deborah Gail, was born in 1954, followed two years later by the birth of their son, Paul Max.

The military sent Marvin overseas in the late 1950s, stationing the family first in Africa and then in Spain. Mary Jo loved to share her memories of her time overseas. In 1961, the family returned to the states and made their home in South Carolina.

In the early 1970s, Mary Jo moved back to Centerville, where she spent most of the rest of her life. She was an excellent cook and gardener. Mary Jo loved to play 42 and card games. She owned and operated the Dairy D Lite in Centerville for a time, and she worked at the Leisure Lodge Nursing Home for many years.

After she retired, she ran a booth at the flea market in Livingston, Texas. She even constructed her own house near Lake Livingston. Mary Jo was preceded in death by all nine of her siblings, Wendell, Weldon, Mayme, Frank, Eva, Cecil, Wallace Ray, Jerry, and Roy; her parents; and Marvin Ehrlich.

She is survived by daughter, Deborah Gail Lyell (Danny) of Camden, South Carolina; son, Paul Max Ehrlich of Jacksonville, Florida; granddaughters, Jessica Norris (Daniel) and Lindsey Lyell; great-grandchildren, Ava Norris, Hudson Norris, and Easton Norris, along with a host of nieces and nephews.

She will be buried in the Beaver Dam Cemetery in Leon County, Texas.

Arrangements are under the direction of Walters Funeral Home, Centerville, Texas.