Spirit Community Newspapers- October 22, 2008
Remembering Tina Bela: Benefit for Mom and Wife
Patty-Pat Kozlowski
"Good night, my Annie Girl." That’s the end of day
send off that Tina Bela would say every night when
her daughter Anne went to bed. Even though Anne
was well into her teens and wasn’t a little girl
anymore, she was still her mother’s "Annie Girl."
When it snowed, Tina would wake her other
daughter Jen up early so they could drink coffee and
watch the snow fall onto the street outside their
Tilton Street home.
Last month, Tina Bela went to sleep and never
awoke, passing away at the age of 44 and leaving
her husband Bob, and daughters Anne and Jen
without their wife and mother and missing her
terribly.
Friends, family and co-workers have banded
together in the wake of Tina’s sudden death to
organize a benefit and raise funds for Tina’s
daughters. Because the one thing Tina Bela wanted
for her Jen and Annie Girl was for her girls to attend
college-something she never did but wanted that
opportunity and chance for her girls.
Tina was born and raised in Philadelphia with four
brothers, in Kensington, later moving to Port Richmond. She attended Visitation, St. Boniface, and Mastbaum High
School.
Tina worked for Maternity Care Coalition and Mom Mobile, traveling to the poverty stricken areas of the city by bus, with
a crib on her shoulder to take to low income mothers who needed a helping hand. And Tina gave everyone she met a
helping hand. Tina didn’t have a lot, but she gave everything she could, almost to a fault.
If she ever had a motto, it would have to have been to "live, laugh, love." She lived life to the fullest, she loved
everyone-and everyone who met her instantly loved her, and she loved to laugh-an infectious laughter that could
brighten your day.
When she passed away in early September, her funeral was attended by people who reminisced about her always
being the life of the party, baking the best pumpkin bread and cooking and listening to music while she danced and
rocked out in the kitchen.
"To know Tina Bela," one friend wrote, "Is to love Tina Bela."
The Tina Bela Memorial Beer and Beer will be held on November 1st, from 8pm until 2am, at the Polish Eagle Hall at
3156 Edgemont Street, Phila. Pa. 19134. Tickets are $25 in advance, $30 at the door. All money raised will go directly
to the family of Tina Bela so the girls can get an upstart at college. Anne is still in Franklintowne Charter School and Jen
hopes to start Community College in January of 2009.
For tickets, to make a donation, or to help with the benefit by sponsoring or donating a raffle prize, please call Danielle-
267-539-6774; Kathy-215-478-2361 or Bob-215-203-0251.
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Tina Bela, at left, died in her sleep and left two teenage
daughters and a husband grieving for their mom and wife.
Friends and family are rallying together for a Tina Bela Memorial
Fund so that her daughters get the chance to go to
college. /Photo courtesy of Bell family |
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