Joseph Norment Bell
Kleppesto, NORWAY - Joseph Norment Bell, 81, a native of Virginia, died peacefully on Candlemas, Feb. 2, 2020. Joe was predeceased by his parents W. Herman and Florence Bell. He graduated from Granby High School, attended Davidson College, the Sorbonne, and received his PhD at Princeton University. A classical Arabic scholar, he was appointed Professor at the University of Bergen by the late King Olav V of Norway, where he taught until his retirement. While teaching an Arabic/English Technical Translation Course at University College Oxford, using standard and Egyptian colloquial Arabic, he received rousing applause from his students, skilled translators at ARAMCO. He was an author and translator of several books, also an editor of the Journal of Arabic and Islamic Studies. As an avid sportsman, he had enjoyed hunting and fishing.
Joe will be greatly missed by his wife Ludmila Torlakova, daughter Emilie Kelly (Conor), daughter Ellie, and son Joe, grandchildren Callum, Lily, and Lori, brother Herman Bell (Ann), sister Florence Cupschalk (Steve), nieces, nephews, and cousins. He was a faithful member of the Nordic Catholic Church. Services and burial were in Norway. "Lord, now lettest thou thy servant depart in peace."