ROCKPORT — Jean Eleanore Merrill was born on November 10, 1932, at Camden Community Hospital on 19 Mountain Street in Camden. She died on March 15, 2025, at the age of 92, in Rockport, at the Sussman House after a courageous battle with cancer. During this time her faith in God never wavered. She was not afraid to die because she knew that to be absent from the body was to be present with her Lord.

Baby Jean spent her first year living in Rockport with her parents, Blaine P. and A. Gertrude (Eaton) Merrill, and her paternal grandparents. The family then moved to Beechwood Street in Warren where she attended a one room school house on Patterson Mill Road and Warren Elementary. Her favorite memories were of riding her bike to Billings Road to her maternal grandparent’s farm. She loved spending time there with her grandfather who taught her how to milk a cow, gather eggs, make acorn and reed pipes in which she smoked dried sweet fern leaves, and he would let her hold the reins while plowing. She would sit in the oak tree next to the barn and read for hours. At the age of 12 her family moved to Mechanic Street in Rockland where she attended school, graduating with honors in 1950 from Rockland High School.

After graduating she began at Rockland National Bank on Main Street until 1958.

In 1955 she married Ronald B. Herbert, and in August of 1958 they welcomed twins, Michelle and Michael (quite a surprise!) Upon hearing that there was a second baby Jean exclaimed, “My husband is going to kill me!!!!”. Thirteen months later, in September 1959, their second daughter, Kim, was born.

In 1967, after the children were in school, Jean began working for the Rockland School system as an Ed Tech. She loved the job and loved the children, continuing in this position for 34 years.

Her husband Ronald died suddenly in 1996. She remained a widow for 10 years until God unexpectedly brought Robert (Bob) Bell Sr, a retired pastor and recent widower, into her life. After a short engagement they were married on February 4, 2006. They had a very loving and happy marriage, enjoying their time spent on Grand Manan Island during the summers, traveling and exploring Maine especially the County, eating at Moody’s Diner, and visiting family. In the last few years, as Bob’s health declined, Jean loving and tirelessly took care of him until his death in July of 2021.

Her last few years were quieter. She enjoyed visits from family and friends, and taking walks and having tea with one of her closest friends, Ethel Swan.

She attended the First Baptist Church on Main Street in Rockland for most of her life. She loved to sing in the choir, help with children’s ministries, playing the piano and the pipe organ.

In addition to her parents, she was predeceased by her sister, Diane Simonton; her brother, Dana Merrill; a son-in-law, Ernest H. Hammond; a 23-month-old great-grandson, Benjamin Tomas McArthur; and a stepson, John Bell.

She is survived by her children, Michelle Henry (Terrence), Michael Herbert (Jody), and Kim Hammond; her grandchildren, Julie McArthur (Brian), Cameron Henry (Sarah), Jennifer Lamberson (Kevin), and her great-grandchildren Evelyn, Ada, and Laurel Lambertson, Margaret McArthur, and Ramsay Henry; Jean was looking forward to the birth of two new great-grandchildren this year, a boy and a girl. She is also survived by a stepson, Robert Bell Jr. (Teresa), and his children, Matthew, Timothy and Joseph.

There will be a graveside service in the spring, at Oak Hill Cemetery, Camden.

In lieu of flowers donations are suggested to Child Evangelism Fellowship of Maine, 431 Campground Road, Livermore Falls, ME 04254 or online at cefofmaine.org/donate/.

Arrangements are in the care of Burpee, Carpenter & Hutchins Funeral Home, 110 Limerock Street, Rockland.