Warner Robins - Patricia R. Bell, age 65, passed away after a battle with cancer on her birthday, Saturday, July 1, 2023, in Houston Healthcare in Warner Robins. A memorial service will be held Thursday, July 6, 2023, at 6:00 pm in the chapel of Mathis Funeral Home in Cochran. The family will greet friends after the service Thursday at Mathis Funeral Home.

Patricia was born in Ft. Worth, TX and spent much of her life traveling around the world, both as a daughter and as a wife and mother.  She lived in Australia, England, Okinawa, and several U.S. states before finally settling down with her husband and two children in Georgia. Growing up she'd attended 20+ schools before eventually graduating from Northside High School back in Ft. Worth. For her first job, she'd worked at Arby's (where she lost her class ring), and later when they'd moved to Warner Robins and her brother had expressed interest in joining the Marine Corps, she'd briefly considered doing the same. Instead, while her brother was recruited, the recruiter ripped up her application package and after a whirlwind courtship, they were married.

Having married a Marine, her life of travel and adventure continued. During her time on Okinawa, she worked at a dive shop and became a scuba diver; she waited tables at the enlisted club; and she became a belly dancer, traveling around the island with the Twilight Dreams dance troupe and performing in several USO shows. For her first venture into entrepreneurship, she began making breakfast burritos to sell to Marines on base. Due to their popularity, business boomed, and Patricia happily accommodated the increased demand, taking satisfaction in knowing that people were enjoying her food. This satisfaction would carry forward many years later when she and her husband became restaurant owners after his retirement from the Marine Corps in 1994. For 12 years, Gunny's in Warner Robins was a diner of superior quality that was popular with locals and members of the military. Also during this time, she became the owner and manager of Gunny's Trucking, and she'd eventually started to work at the Oriole's Nest (aka, the Bottom) in Warner Robins.

Throughout her life, Patricia was an avid reader, wrote extremely entertaining letters and emails, could maintain a phone conversation for hours at a time and feared no phone bill, had a fondness for dragons and British pubs, and would stubbornly demand the fireplace be lit every Christmas for "the ambiance," regardless of the weather. She confounded and delighted family and friends with her lumpia, which she learned how to make from other military wives while overseas, and her Thanksgiving dressing was infamously green because she had no self-control when it came to her use of sage.

Patricia loved her family friends, and she was incredibly patient and generous, particularly when someone was in need, whether it was a young Marine suffering from homesickness and a lack of home-cooked food; a family friend who needed a job and a place to stay; or her own family who needed support in some form or another. She'd inherited her mother's and step-mother's record-keeping abilities, which served her well in keeping in touch with family and lifelong friends throughout everyone's travels, and she was always on top of important dates, sending cards and making calls to commemorate birthdays, holidays, graduations, Mothers' and Fathers' Days, etc…

She is preceded in death by her mother and ex-step-father, Sequoia Gwendolyn "Gwen" Monticello and Michael Monticello, as well as her father and step-mother, August "Sonny" Ernest Bartosh and Marlene Bartosh; and her step-sister, Cynthia Cavender.

She is survived by her husband of 46 years, Raymond C. Bell of Warner Robins; her daughter Brandy R. Horne and spouse Jason Horne of South Carolina, and son Raymond C. Bell Jr. and spouse Dana Bell of North Dakota; six grandchildren: Jacob Bell, Rhiannon Bell, Kevin Bell, Shannon Bell, Megan Bell, and Sydney Leonard; and one great-grandchild, Bailey Leonard.

She is also survived by her three brothers, August "Sonny" Bartosh Jr. and spouse Leticia "Luke" Bartosh of Nevada, David Bartosh of Texas, and John Monticello and spouse Yoyo Monticello of Texas; two of her step-siblings, Melinda Wood and spouse Mike Wood of Arkansas, and Rudy Johnson and spouse Patrice Johnson of Mississippi; her ex-sister-in-law and longtime best friend Joan Petersen of Maine; and several nieces and nephews.