Terrel Bell was 59 years, 3 months, 3 weeks, old on 3/3/81. That was my 22nd birthday and it was shortly after President Reagan took office. I assume I was approaching the end of my 3rd year at the U.S. Naval Academy and that the next month, on 4/12/81, I would launch as a secret crewmember aboard the first flight of the space shuttle.
Terrel Howard Bell (November 11, 1921 - June 22, 1996) was the Secretary of Education in the Cabinet of President Ronald Reagan.
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Appointed last in the Reagan cabinet, Bell was expected to preside over the dismantling of the Department of Education, but ran into the legal requirement that such a dismantling required legislation. He was well known, admired and repected in education circles, having risen from high school teacher through college professor to administrative positions. Bell stood out as a humble man in an administration of moneyed people -- he drove a U-Haul truck from Utah to Washington when he moved, probably the only member of the Reagan cabinet to do so.
