St. Mary’s Church welcomes bell back to parish

By Gloria Austin
Staff Writer
    I arrived back to my home after 53 years, safe and sound.
    A gaping hole in my side is a constant reminder of the domineering feverish temperature I had once endured though shivering with cold.
    My mettle may have been disfigured, but not defeated.
    Finally, it was over. An hour later after a roaring, crashing sound, I dropped.
    Meeting an untimely fate, St. Mary’s Church bell was torn from its structure tumbling from head to foot into the ashes.
    On January 12, 1958 a fire destroyed St. Mary’s Church leaving its bell in the wake of its ruin. The fire, of undetermined origin, began on the ground floor of the church.
Houlton Pioneer Times photo/Gloria Austin
BELL RINGERS — Father David Raymond, left, along with Shirley Rairdon, middle, and Mike Powers check out the new home of the St. Mary’s Catholic Church bell.
    The church bell was given as a gift by J.C. Madigan in 1874. An excerpt from the Aroostook Times read, “It was purchased and put into position in the church tower … the bell is a fine-toned one from the foundry of Meneely & Company of Troy, N.Y. and weighs 1,250 pounds.
    Father Tierney gave Fred Powers, a second-generation bell ringer, the fallen bell.
    “We’ve had it in the family ever since,” said Mike Powers.
    Father David Raymond explained that Mike Powers’ grandfather, William, had been a bell ringer and so had his father for St. Mary’s Church.
    “My father, along with a lot of other parishioners helped with the cleanup,” said Powers.
    The bell which still reveals its deformity will always have a story to tell.
    “The belfry collapsed on the inside instead of toward the street,” observed Father Raymond. “The hole in the bell is where it partially melted. I think it might have hit the pillar and on impact, it punctured the bell.”
    Powers agreed.
    “It was already molten it was so hot at that time,” he said. “As you can clearly see where the hole is, it gets narrower as you go in, so it was melting right away.”
    “In church, I thanked the Powers family for having been good stewards of the bell for 53 years,” said Father Raymond. “Thanks to Father Tierney who gave the bell to the Powers, who knows what may have happened to it.”
    “It may have been hauled off and just dumped somewhere,” said Powers. Or, in today’s economy, it might have been sold for scrap metal.
    Fred Powers had taken care of the bell since the fire, but when he retired, he asked his son if he’d like to have the bell.
    “I said, ‘sure.’ I had two young boys and I figured if one of them stayed around, the bell would continue on,” said Powers. “But, they grew up and moved outside of Houlton and I don’t want to take the bell somewhere else.”   
    Recently retired and thinking about eventually downsizing their home, Powers and his wife, Freddie, were talking one night about what they thought would be the “perfect” home. Then, Mark Blanchette, who is studying and gathering information on St. Mary’s parish, called and suddenly, everything came together.
    “It just seemed like a logical thing to do,” said Powers. “This is where it started. This is where it belongs. It has made its round-trip journey back.”
    Blanchette is not through with his research for pieces of St. Mary’s Church history. He and Father Raymond are now working on gathering the 14 stations of the cross, which adorned the walls of St. Monica Mission in Cary. They have eight already and are looking for the others. If anyone has a piece and would like to donate it, call St. Mary’s Church at 532-2871.