MARTIN BELL
Nationally
known author, lecturer, educator, and musician, Martin Bell impacted the lives
of thousands of people. He died
January 18, 2009, of aspiration pneumonia.
The most well known of his books is The
Way of the Wolf, which includes the Christmas classic "Barrington
Bunny." The story was written for
adults, but over the years it has touched the heart of readers and listeners
young and old. This collection of
stories, poems, parables, and songs has been continuously in print since 1970. Martin Bell also authored Return of the
Wolf, Nenshu and the Tiger, Distant Fire, Night Places: A Suspense Adventure,
Wolf, and most recently Street Singing and Preaching: A Book of New
Psalms. Publisher's Weekly has described him as "a master
craftsman."
In 2000 WolfWay Records released a complete
audio version of The Way of the Wolf.
It features Martin Bell's reading of all the stories and poems from that
book. Also available from WolfWay are
CD versions of the two LP records released in conjunction with The Way of
the Wolf in 1970. Songs from The
Way of the Wolf includes Martin's performance of all the songs from the
original LP, along with two bonus tracks of tunes he composed in recent
years. Stories from The Way of the
Wolf contains four stories:"Barrington Bunny," " Rag-tag
Army," "Noel—The Lone Ranger," and "Wood and Nails and
Colored Eggs." This 1970 reading
by Martin Bell includes his original background music.
A graduate of Beloit College in Wisconsin,
and Episcopal Divinity School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, Martin was ordained to
the Episcopal priesthood in 1964.
Although he pastored
congregations in Michigan, Indiana, and Alabama, his ministry never could be
described as conventional. In 1965,
while chaplain at the University of Michigan, he and fellow chaplain Dan Burke,
created Canterbury House, a coffee house that gained a great deal of national
attention. Canterbury House hosted many notable artists, including Gordon
Lightfoot, Len Chandler, Maria Muldaur, Richie Havens, Paul Stookey, and
Odetta. His appearance at Canterbury
House was one of Gordon Lightfoot's first performances in the United States.
A few years later Martin founded Imaginal
Systematics, a company that offered a series of innovative weekend conferences
for lay people in basic Christian theology, Ethics, and New Testament. These conferences were sponsored by local
churches of many denominations throughout the continental U.S. He was a featured speaker at various
regional and national gatherings and on the Chicago Sunday Evening Club
television program.
In the 1970s he established a private
investigation firm, the Wittlinger Agency.
His impetus for this seeming vocational diversion drew on earlier
experience working with the criminal investigation branch of Pinkerton's Inc.
in Chicago, Illinois. Working
exclusively for attorneys, the Wittlinger Agency specialized in criminal
defense investigation and missing persons.
Martin Bell considered the Wittlinger Agency fo be a vital ministry—to
the legal community and to individuals and their families who found themselves
caught in the justice system with nowhere to turn.
After serving as a regional missioner in
Oklahoma and the rector of St. Francis of Assisi, Birmingham, Alabama, Martin
Bell accepted a position with the Episcopal Diocese of Northern Michigan. After retiring from the active ministry in
1999, he remained in St. Ignace, Michigan, and pursued his lifelong passion for
music. Martin offered instruction in
voice, guitar, piano, and composition.
Martin's ties to the Upper Peninsula run
deep. For a time in early childhood,
when his mother was battling tuberculosis, he lived with relatives in Iron
River. In one of his books, Distant
Fire, he relates that his earliest memory is of crossing the Straits of
Mackinac on the car ferry. He also
recalled that shortly after coming to the U.P. as a child, he encountered a wolf; whether this was a physical
encounter or a vision, he could not be certain. But the wolf remained central to Martin Bell's life and spirituality. In all his books he used as an image for God
the great silver wolf: powerful, steadfast, and utterly mysterious.
Photo by Dave Kunze © 2001 WolfWay Records
Books by Martin Bell
WOLFWAY BOOKS AND RECORDS
65 Central Hill
St. Ignace, MI 49781
(906) 643-6597