Campbell Gains Angel Wings (1938-2025)
Merleen Agnes Bell Campbell was born in Rainelle, WV, Nov. 30, 1938, when Artie Shaw’s Begin the Beguine was at the top of the charts. Just 36 days shy of her 87th birthday, she lived life to the fullest. Wife, Mother, Founder, Business owner, Entrepreneur, Musician, Cancer Survivor, Artist, Gardener, and Grandmother.
She met John L. Campbell, Sr., “Johnnie” at Rainelle High School, when she was 12 and he was 16. He was double promoted in school and was on his way to college. Little did they know five years later they would be wed, have a son and beginning a life in Sutton, WV.
Merleen was multi-faceted and throughout her life she wore many hats, figuratively and literally. If you knew her, you knew she had a hat, shoe and accoutrements for every occasion. She took great care in expressing herself through her wardrobe. It was creative expression for her, and she took full advantage of it especially in the shoe department. In her generation it was a sign of success ‘dressed head to toe.’ She understood the power of scent, wore lashes and nails long before it was today’s norm. If she wanted to learn something she was adventurous, committed and learned it better and took it up a notch. She encouraged others to do the same.
Her first business was The Pet Palace, where she groomed her schnauzers and others. When the court district John worked in grew, she was ready. She was an Official Court Reporter for the 3rd, 14th and 32nd Judicial Circuits for 27 years until retiring and continued her freelance court reporting firm, Verbatim Ink. Verbatim Ink got its start in 1984 when she ordered two personal computers and the manual from IBM sans any computer class. When voice recording technology Audioscribe, integrated with computers for court reporting, she was at the forefront of utilizing the technology. She appeared in numerous articles on the technology and enjoyed being a reference for legal professionals.
She was a 51-year member and lived the Sutton Woman’s’ Club (“SWC”) motto: “Give the world the best you have and the best will come to you.”
As a member and later President, the SWC was a driving force for social, fundraising and civic events. The SWC Radio-Thon at WSGB was a key fundraising event for the Sutton Recreation Association – organized in 1965 to build, support and maintain the aluminum Sutton Swimming Pool.
Other organization and fundraising events via SWC include The Braxton County Regatta and Beauty Pageant (1969-1986), construction of the new Sutton Library and Saving Our Sisters in 2006 – a fund she created under the auspices of the Sutton Woman’s Club that paid for mammograms for women in Braxton County.
She worked to give the world the best Sutton had to offer whether it was the Halloween Parade and festivities, wrapping presents at Christmas to fundraise for the Sutton pool or when word got out there wasn’t a boy scout troupe for her son, she started one; and, when there was no kindergarten teacher for her daughters’ class, she volunteered. Of the 11 students in the kindergarten class 9 graduated together in 1983.
Always a supporter of the creative community growing in Braxton County, she was a founding member of the Hillbilly Players (later Landmark Studio for the Arts) and board member. She performed in and directed several plays, to name a few of her favorites. Musicals: Nellie Forbush South Pacific, Dolly Levi, Hello Dolly, Madame Tiang in The King and I, Sister Hubert in Nunsense and Nuncrackers. Drama: Blanche Debois Streetcar Namer Desire. The Original Penny in You Can’t Take It With You; and Directed: Count Dracula: The Musical? And Beaty and Beast, Really!
Through these times, she hosted and supported John, Sr.’s political endeavors as a member of the 71st House of Delegates and Braxton County Board member. She was elected to Sutton City Council in 1990, and was a member of Eastern Star, Judy’s Garden Club and Davis Memorial Presbyterian Church.
‘Make-a-Memory’ was a focus before it was the name of her creative company. Underneath the determination was a hard-earned resilience that came early. She was the surviving daughter of two children born early in the marriage of Walter David Bell, Sr. and Melba Irene Boggs. For her first seven years they were a trio followed by two sisters and a brother. She lost her father at 13. By 30 she lost her mother and first-born daughter, April Dawn. At 35, she survived a car accident on her way to work that broke her back and put her in a neck-to-hip brace for a year. She survived breast cancer and was voted Miss Congeniality in the 2007 Mrs. West Virginia competition. She had a heart attack on Valentine’s Day 2012.
In her retirement, she focused on family, travel and creative projects. Drawing portraits, her Make-a-Memory creations of greeting cards, travel jewelry and more generated profits for Saving Our Sisters. She loved playing the piano and played her final Easter service in 2023.
She was preceded in death by her brother, Charles, sister Judith Irene, her daughter, April Dawn, her son, J.L. Campbell, Jr., and husband, John L. Campbell, Sr.
She is survived by her brother, Walter D. (‘Sonny’) Bell, Jr. (SHS ’69 graduate), and wife, Lyn, of Mesa, AZ; sister, Dolores Ann Oberer and husband, Carl of Sebring, FL; daughter, Caitlin Renee Campbell of Santa Monica, CA; granddaughter; Courtney and her husband, Drew Crouch, of Raleigh, NC, Madison Campbell, and fiancé Logan Robertson, of Glasgow, KY; Jan Funderburk and Phillip Dennison, of Sutton, WV; and two great grandchildren; Kai Campbell Crouch and Mac Campbell Crouch, of Raleigh, NC.
A Celebration of Life will take place from 1 to 4 PM on Saturday, July 11, 2026, at the Elk River Inn, Sutton, WV. Flowers and living plants welcomed for the Celebration of Life.
Words of comfort and fond memories may be extended to the family at Merleen Campbell / RichardRoachFuneralHome.
