Rosamund Theresa Purdy, homemaker, librarian and a graduate of Mount Holyoke College, was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota on November 11, 1920 to Steward W. Purdy and Louise T. Bruchholz Purdy. She graduated from New Trier High School in Winnelka, Illinois in 1938, and then entered Mount Holyoke College and majored in English language and literature. While at Mount Holyoke, she was involved in many student activities: she was a member of the choir, treasurer of the freshman class, president of the junior class and the lead in the junior show. She was also awarded the Merrill Prize for achievement in English and sophomore honors. A member of the Phi Beta Kappa, she earned a B.A. degree from Mount Holyoke in 1942. She served in the WAVES (Women's Reserve, Naval Reserve) from 1942-1945, receiving the rank of full lieutenant and acting as a personnel officer. On July 7, 1945 she married Lieutenant Frank Ellwood Bell of the United States Naval Reserve. They had three children. Bell worked as a teacher, an administrator and a librarian at Mercersburg Academy. She also wrote amateur musical productions for teenage children.
From the guide to the Rosamund Purdy Bell Papers MS 0830., 1940-1945, 1950, 1941-1942, (Mount Holyoke College Archives and Special Collections)
