Betty Jo Bell (1961)

(In fondest memory of Betty Jo Bell, who passed away February 20, 2022)

Betty, a Corsicana native graduated from Navarro College in 1961.
Proud graduate of the University of Texas School of Nursing and received her master’s degree in developmental nursing from the University of Florida.
Following her graduation from University of Florida, she served as acting director of the nursing division of The Mailman Center for Child Development at the University of Miami.
She also completed post-graduate fellowship studies in the care of children with special needs at the University of Washington.
Betty was a pioneer in the newly recognized field of early intervention at that time. Following a nationwide search in 1970, she was hired by the University of Alabama at Birmingham to be the Coordinator of the Developmental Program for Infants and Toddlers at the Center for Developmental and Learning Disorders (CDLD), a program that she ran for 13 years until the program was closed.
The Service Guild was interested in starting an early intervention program, and Betty immediately joined with The Service Guild to start a program known as EIP (Early Intervention Program). EIP began in a Sunday School classroom and stayed for 10 years until the program outgrew the space provided by the church. In 2002, the program was renamed The Bell Center for Early Intervention Programs to honor its long-time program director.