Ida Pearl Green

Ida Pearl Hallman Bell Green

June 18, 1918 – April 17, 2025

Ida Pearl Hallman Bell Green was the eldest child born to Samuel Ulysses Hallman and Evelyn A. Ricks Hallman. She is the eldest of eight children (three girls and five boys) born on a farm on Riffle Ford Road in Quince Orchard, Maryland.

She attended the Quince Orchard Colored School now located on the Pleasant View Historical Site and Lincoln Colored High School which was located in Rockville, Maryland.

In December 1938 she married John Howard Bell and from that marriage, son Melvin Howard Bell was born. Unfortunately, prior to his birth, John Howard was tragically killed in an automobile accident. In 1949 she married Gerard A. Green, Sr., and from that marriage they had two sons, Gerard A. Green Jr. and Vernon S. Green; and a stepdaughter, Helen Smith Thompson. With her marriage, Pearl became a stay-at-home mother, while also taking care of other neighborhood children when their parents were working,

Prior to becoming a stay-at-home mother, she worked for the Bituminous Coal Division in Washington DC, and later the Veterans Administration. Once her sons got older, she worked at the National Geographic facility in Darnestown, Maryland. However, most people remember her as the “Avon Lady.” She began selling Avon in 1958 and over the next 64 years she proudly never missed submitting an order when orders were due.

At the age of 12, she joined and became an active member of Pleasant View Methodist Episcopal Church. She played for and sang in the choir, taught Sunday School and eventually became Sunday School Superintendent, a position that she held for 30 years. She served as President of the Women’s Society of Christian Service and was an active member of all the different committees. When Pleasant View joined Fairhaven United Methodist Church, she continued being an active church member by serving as a Sunday School team teacher of third and fourth graders and as President of the United Methodist Women. She also served as Chairperson of the Homecoming Committee for many years and was a faithful member of the Chancel Choir and the Tuesday night bible study class.

Pearl was an active community member as she served on the Advisory Committee for the new Quince Orchard Library and became a member of the African American Book Club. She was a founding trustee for the Pleasant View Historical Association, and a weekly volunteer at the Wilson Health Care Center at Asbury Methodist Village for over 30 years. She loved crocheting in her spare time making Afghans for relatives and friends, and socks for the N.M. Carroll Home for the aged, which in turn led others in the church to crochet.

She leaves to cherish her memory her three sons - Melvin Howard Bell (Jacquelin), Gerard “Gerry” A. Green, Jr., (Rita), Vernon S. Green; three siblings - Thompkins Hallman (Washington, DC), Evelyn Roberta Hallman (Knoxville, TN), Esther Lyons (Curtis); Grandchildren - Charles Thompson, Jr. (Tammy), Carolyn Thompson, Sherry Roaché, Cherry Thompson, Kevin Bell ( Katrina),

Timothy Bell (Donna), Tiffany Jones (Richard), Kisha Green Davis (Everett), Jason Green (Ritu), and Maya Green. 14 great grandchildren, numerous great-great grandchildren and a host of nieces, nephews, other relatives, and friends. In addition to being preceded in death by her parents and her two husbands, the other family that preceded her were her siblings: Samuel, Eugene, Upton & Melvin Hallman; stepdaughter Helen Thompson and her husband Charles; granddaughter Betty Thompson Evans and her husband Lonnie; grandson John Foster.

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