Susan Jane Bell Williams

Susan Jane Bell Williams, of Holland, Michigan, passed away on Friday, April 3, 2026. She was born in Zanesville, Ohio, on May 26, 1937, the daughter of the late Samuel Alvin Bell and Mary Eleanor (Peirce) Bell.

Sue grew up in Middletown, Ohio, and graduated from Muskingum College in 1959. She attended graduate school at the University of Kentucky and later finished her Master of Social Work (MSW) degree at Grand Valley State University in Allendale, Michigan in 1988.

Her social work career involved public welfare in Hamilton, Ohio, and Columbus, Ohio. Her extensive community service included work for a homeless shelter in Washington, DC, the Congressional Select Committee on Aging, and the Center for Women in Transition in Holland, where she served as interim director. She ended her career as Director of the FOCUS/SOAR program at Hope College and as a teacher of a successful freshman seminar. Wisely counseling a significant number of athletes earned her a varsity letter upon retirement.

Sue was most proud of her work for Civil Rights both in Columbus and Lexington, Kentucky. For over 40 years she attended and had leadership roles at the First Presbyterian Church in Holland where she served as a deacon. More recently she attended Unity on the Lakeshore church where she reveled in the love, acceptance and compassion of that congregation.

All who met her on various boards and committees knew her for her ready smile and her caring concern for the welfare of others. Since the time she was twelve, her motto came from a message she saw on a New England gravestone that read, “She done what she could.” Thus, she tried to live in accord with Emily Dickinson’s poem, “If I can help one fainting Robin unto his nest again, I shall not live in vain.”

Her survivors include her husband of nearly 66 years, Donald, and two sons, David of Holland and Brian (Heidi) of Ann Arbor, Michigan, brother Sam (Joyce) Bell of Hudson, Ohio, and two nephews, two great nephews and a great niece.

Cremation has taken place. An informal celebration of her cheerful spirit was held April 18 at Freedom Village Retirement Community, where she and Donald resided.

A brief service will be held at 11:00 am on Saturday, June 20, at Brown Chapel on the campus of Muskingum University in New Concord, Ohio. Following the interment of her ashes in the Muskingum Columbarium, there will be a light lunch held at the Roberta A. Smith University Library in the McCalmont Colloquium, also on the campus of Muskingum University. BOLIN-DIERKES FUNERAL HOME, 1271 BLUE AVE, ZANESVILLE, OHIO 43701 will be handling services.

To send a note of condolence: visit www.bolin-dierkesfuneralhome.com, follow us on Facebook, or call our professional staff at (740)452-4551.

Memorial gifts may be made to Muskingum University https://www.muskingum.edu/giving (Development Office, 260 Stadium Drive, New Concord, Ohio 43762) or Hospice of Holland https://www.hollandhospice.org/ways-to-give/hospice-donations/ (270 Hoover Blvd., Holland, MI 49423)