Photo by Daniel Jackovino The Rev. Susan Dorward of the Brookdale Reformed Church displays handbells, which were cast as souvenirs from the belfry church bell more than a century ago.
The Rev. Susan Dorward of the Brookdale Reformed Church displays handbells, which were cast as souvenirs from the belfry church bell more than a century ago.
BLOOMFIELD, NJ — As swallows return to San Juan Capistrano and monarch butterflies to Mexico, another handbell has found its way back to Bloomfield. The addition makes seven bells so far, each cast more than 100 years ago as a church fundraiser, which have been returned to the Brookdale Reformed Church. According to the Rev. Susan Dorward, she received a phone call about this most recent bell on the church answering machine in March.
“It was a man from Tennessee saying he had one of our bells,” she told The Independent Press following services on Sunday, May 15. “He and his wife were the estate managers for someone.”
Apparently, the bell was in the estate of a deceased Dayton, Tenn., resident named Frank Kuntz. Dorward was told that everyone who came to the estate sale was asked to ring the bell as a blessing for Kuntz and the Brookdale Reformed Church.
“We were blessed over 200 times,” she said.
Seeing the inscription on the bell, the estate managers were curious and went to the internet, where they found several stories from The Independent Press about identical bells previously being returned to Bloomfield. An enlargement of one story was displayed at the estate sale on an easel. Dorward said she remembered where each of the seven returned bells was found.
“The first bell was from Texas,” she said. “The man used to live in Nutley. The second bell was found here at the church, and the third one came from the Boston area. The fourth was sent from Virginia, and the fifth was from someone local; it was found among their grandmother’s things. The sixth came from Florida and now Tennessee.”
The first bell was put to use as soon as it came back about four years ago. Dorward would have an individual with special needs ring it as a call to worship. But with additional bells, everybody gets their turn when the congregation is called to worship by the worship leader.
“It’s very cool,” Dorward said.
Another return to the church threw some light onto the handbells. But this return was a former congregant who decided to attend services again after coaxing by Dorward. One time, he brought a transcript of the minutes from a 1975 meeting of the Ladies Circle, a now-defunct service group of the church.
The minutes said that the group would be celebrating its 65th anniversary on March 31, 1975. The group, according to the minutes, began on March 31, 1910, in the home of Mrs. Tanis Garrabrandt, with 23 ladies present “for the purpose of forming a ladies aid.” At first, the group considered calling themselves the Lady Circle, but this was changed to Ladies Circle, with monthly dues of 10 cents.
The first meeting was soon after a fire that destroyed the church building, and it was decided that the bell in the severely damaged belfry could be melted and recast into handbells to be sold as a fundraiser to help rebuild the church. At a second meeting, it was decided to learn from church authorities how much metal could be salvaged from the old bell. Once this was determined, the Ladies Circle looked for someone to cast the handbells. Two firms were considered. The women found out that 25 pounds of metal, from the old bell, would make 100 handbells at a cost of 25 cents apiece, and they could be sold for $1 each.
The sale was a success, and more metal was made into handbells. A note in the transcript said it was not known how many more bells were made.
“Then at a special meeting at the home of Mrs. Tanis Garrabrandt it was decided to buy the church a new bell and to send someone to see about setting the timber for hanging in the tower,” the transcript read. “At the February 1911 meeting, it was reported that a bell weighing 1,000 pounds would cost $305, allowing for discounts and for metal sent from the old bell. At the May 1911 meeting, the Ladies Circle voted to pay for the new bell out of its treasury, including $25 for carting and hanging it in the tower.”
Dorward said the women of the Ladies Circle held numerous fundraisers to help rebuild the church, including strawberry festivals, and the sale of handmade towels and pies.
“These women worked their fingers to the bone so the church could be rebuilt,” she said.
The return of the bells, Dorward said, shows how we are all connected.
“A little bit of kindness goes a long way,” she said. “When it was announced before this morning’s service that another bell had been returned, everybody cheered.”
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