Edith "Dee Dee" Bell Lyon

Edith "Dee Dee" Bell Lyon                               January 20, 2025  Edith “Dee Dee” Bell Lyon left this beautiful earth that she dearly loved on January 20, 2025 at the University of Virginia Hospice Acute Care in Charlottesville, Virginia. Dee Dee’s health started to decline last year after a fall at her home that led to multiple health issues. She was born to Dr. Joseph Clark Bell and Lorraine Seeley Bell on April 4, 1931 in Louisville, Kentucky. She was predeceased by her parents, two brothers, Joseph Clark Bell, Jr. and Nathaniel Bell and her son, Jonathan Williams Burr, Jr.  Edith graduated from Sweetbriar College and began a career in Interior Design working for one of her best friend’s catalog “The Very Thing” in Charlottesville, Virginia. She retired and moved to Madison County, Virginia where she lived and rode horses for the next three decades; Dee Dee became a champion horseback rider winning multiple medals. 
 In her retirement one of the most rewarding experiences of her life was becoming a Master Naturalist. She joined the Old Rag Master Naturalist (ORMN) chapter in 2012 at the age of 81 and over the next 11 years logged nearly 1700 hours of volunteer service. Despite being the oldest member, she was active in many projects until she finally retired from the chapter at the age of 92. She was instrumental in developing and leading the nature walks at Montpelier in Orange, monitoring the bluebird trail at Hoover Ridge in Madison, organizing the annual butterfly count, and creating a native plant garden in Little Washington. Dee Dee was a much- loved ORMN member, known for her determination, enthusiasm and energy, and above all her love of learning about nature.