Ex-school board member dies in Hawaii Ex-school board member dies in Hawaii (December 12, 2003)

Bell served from 1990 to 1998

By Julie O'Shea

Rick Bell, a longtime Mountain View-Los Altos high school trustee, drowned last Friday after plunging over a waterfall in Kauai, where he had just closed the deal on his "dream condo."

News of Bell's death rocked the city of Mountain View this week. Bell, a lawyer and longtime Los Altos resident, had grown up locally and was well connected in the community where he was known for being an education advocate, a diehard Giants baseball fan, a great friend, but most of all, a dedicated father to his two boys - Stephen, 29, and Geoffrey, 26.

Bell graduated from Los Altos High School and, after spending some time at Foothill College, graduated from Stanford. He then earned his law degree from Hasting Law School in San Francisco. He settled in Los Altos, where he raised his children and served two terms on the high school district board from 1990 to 1998.

The 56-year-old Bell had been hiking with his son Stephen in the Wailua mountains, considered by some to be the wettest spot in Hawaii, when it begin to rain.

The two men had crossed a 25-foot-wide stream at the start of their hike. But when they returned to the spot, the water had gotten heavier and was moving at speeds up to 25 mph, island rescue officials estimated.

There was a sign warning them that the current was dangerous when it rained, but Stephen remembers seeing their car parked invitingly on the other side of the rapids. He said he and his father decided to risk it; after all, they were both avid hikers and had done hikes like this dozens of times.

A couple of people were on the other side of the bank watching as the two began to cross. "One of them even took our picture," Stephen recalled Tuesday.

"As we got about a third of the way through, the water just flew into us at waist level," Stephen said.

Father and son lost their balance and fell into the rapids, which pushed them downstream and then over a waterfall.

"It shot us down below. I went feet first," Stephen said. "The first time (the water pushed me) down I thought we were both going to die."

The whirlpool at the bottom of the fall pushed Stephen under at least three times before he was able to keep his head above water long enough to spot his father bobbing a few feet away from him.

"I called to him, 'Dad, come here,'" Stephen said. "It seemed like he was coming toward me, then the water hit me and spun me around.

"And the next image I had of him was of him face down."

Rick Bell was swept some 500 feet downstream before rescuers from a low-flying helicopter were able to pull his body out of the water with a hook. He was pronounced dead at the scene.

"When they brought the body back, I unzipped the bag and put my hand in and laid my head on his stomach and held him for a little bit," Stephen said.

"He was probably my best friend. I talked with him about anything and everything," said Bell's son Geoffrey, who was in Virginia when his older brother called him with the sad news.

Bell's sister, Mary Clark, agreed. "He and I were always really close. We went everyone together," Clark said, adding that Bell had called her every day during his last stay in Kauai to let her know what he had been up and how beautiful the ocean was.

"He always put everyone before him," Clark said. "He was just full of love and was a really giving person."

Bell is survived by sons, Stephen and Geoffrey; sister, Mary Clark; nephew, Richard Belloli and the mother of his children, Linda.

A memorial service will be held Dec. 17 at 4 p.m. at Christ Episcopal Church, 1040 Border Road in Los Altos.

E-mail Julie O'Shea at joshea@mv-voice.com

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