‘I JUST THOUGHT IT WOULD BE KIND OF FUN TO OWN A BELL’

JEREMY WALTNER   – PUBLISHER

Growing up on a farm 4½ miles north of Menno, Kent Mettler has distinct memories of his mom, Carol, ringing an old school bell when she needed to get in touch with members of her family.

“Mom, if there was a phone call and she needed to get a hold of Dad, she’d ring the bell,” he says. “Or, if it was time for lunch, she’d ring the bell, of if we were working and there was something she wanted us for, she’d ring the bell and we’d go to the house.”

Kent doesn’t know if his mom purchased the bell from the old Klaudt School, which she had attended, when it closed in the 1960s, but that’s how it would be used in the second part of its life.

It must have struck a chord with Kent, because the lifelong Menno resident recently came across a bell for sale online and felt a strong urge to buy it.

“I happened to be looking on Craigslist a few months ago — I don’t look at Craigslist very often — but I happened to see that there was a bell for sale,” he recalls. “I showed my wife (Lynn) and she said, ‘What do you want that bell for?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, but when I was growing up, we had this bell and I just thought it would be kind of fun to own a bell.’”

So Kent got in touch with the seller from Tyndall, bought it for $700, loaded it with a tractor using pallet forks and hauled it back to Menno — still unsure what to do with it. That’s when his wife suggested she get in touch with the Rames-Bender American Legion to see if they would be interested in displaying it at the veteran’s memorial in town, “Which was a really good idea. They were glad to have it because it really fits in with the memorial. So here it sits.”

The bell, on loan to the Legion, is 107 years old and was manufactured by the C.S. Bell Company of Hillsboro, Ohio. The concrete base weights 700 lbs., the bell itself weighs 1,400 lbs. and it measures 42 inches across at the widest opening. There is a handle on the side that sets into motion the tongue of the bell, which makes a rich sound when striking the iron. Kent doesn’t know if anybody comes over and rings it, “but it’s sitting right here.”

The man from whom Kent purchased it doesn’t know where it came from, only that it was part of the estate he was selling, and he no longer wanted it, “so we bought it and here it is.” Kent doesn’t know what the future holds for the bell.

“If they would want to move it, or if one of our family members wants the bell, it would get moved,” he said. “But I don’t see that happening. I think it’s going to stay here pretty permanent.”

Regardless of what happens, the Mettlers are now officially a bell family. The school bell on the farm where Kent grew up — today his son Rodney and daughter-in-law Amanda live there — is still in place. Kent’s uncle, Gordon Mettler, once purchased a bell that is now used by the Peace Reformed Church, and Kent’s recent purchased completes the trifecta. It must have been meant to be.

“They’re not just for sale every day,” he said. “You can’t just go and pick one of these up.”

There is plenty of information about the C.S. Bell Company online; just do a Google search. For another photo of the bell, turn to page 4B.