North Dakota family of 18 gained nationwide fame for using a school bus as a family car (2024)

ELLENDALE, N.D. — Thanks to everyone who commented on our recent Mother’s Day feature story on Elizabeth Bodine, a mother of 18 who was first named “North Dakota Mother of the Year” and then “American Mother of the Year” in 1968.

It turns out, the woman who succeeded Bodine as North Dakota's Mother of the Year gained national acclaim for another reason.

Thelma Bell, a mother of 16 in Ellendale, was honored as the “North Dakota Mother of the Year” in 1969. Although she didn’t win the national contest, she and her husband John became the talk of the nation, all thanks to their unconventional family car — a school bus.

The photo that attracted national attention was first published on June 6, 1948. (The Forum obtained it from the Dickey County Leader and Editor Ken Smith, who tipped us off to the story and agreed to let us publish part of his account.)

In 1969, Thelma Bell explained the photo's origins, “When the family outgrew our car,” she said, ”we purchased an old school bus for family use.”

Still, the North Dakota State Motor Registrar refused to license it as a family car. In a letter, the department asked the family to put up $32 for a permit to use the vehicle on North Dakota highways, along with a regular bus license.

That didn’t sit well with John Bell.

“A bus? Heavens, when I get all my family into that car, there isn’t any room for commercial passengers,” he said.

He told reporters he would contest the requested extra fees.

“Finally, with the help of news stories and word of mouth, we convinced authorities that we were still a family, despite our size,” Thelma said.

Those news stories appeared in papers around the nation. It’s hard to say if the state received calls from New York, Los Angeles, and the like from angry readers standing up for the little guys (with the huge family). Nonetheless, the state might have figured it wasn’t worth the trouble. The family didn’t have to pay the extra fees.

Contributed/Daily Dispatch Moline, Illinois via Newspapers.com

Either way, the Ellendale community seems to love and appreciate the Bells. John Bell was posthumously inducted into the Walk of Fame at an All-School Reunion in 2022. Bell, who spent his early years in the Badlands but later moved to Ellendale, became a Case Implement dealer.

But as Smith wrote in his March 31, 2022, story in the Dickey County Leader, he would have likely achieved little of note if it hadn’t been for Thelma.

“John and Thelma were both high achievers who contributed more than their share to the community and nation. Their children are by far their greatest legacy,” Smith wrote.

Contributed/Dickey County Leader

Like Bodine before her, Thelma knew what it was like to raise a whole brood of children and rarely missed the kids' school events, games, or musical performances.

She said, “You, know, every time I saw one of our young Bells in the spotlight, I felt as though he were my only child at that moment. There was no jealousy problem because, at one time or another, each child was in that spotlight.”

According to a story in the Aberdeen Daily News on March 30, 1969, “The family ushered children through a total of 216 years of school, the boys served a collective 48 years in the armed forces (one of whom has flown over 100 missions), all of the children attended college and the Bell home is well decorated with medals and ribbons.”

John and Thelma had their share of tragedy. Their oldest child, Elmer, died just three days after birth. They also lost their son Alexander to leukemia and their son Richard in a tractor accident.

John died in 1969, just months after Thelma was named Mother of the Year. She lived until 1998.

But the legend of the Bell family and its unusual family car lives on as inspiration for any parent who ever thought driving a minivan was cumbersome.

Tracy Briggs has more than 35 years of experience, in broadcast, print, and digital journalism.