As Richard and Susan Smith ran to meet the horse and buggy that awaited them outside of Cuba Baptist Church on the first day in June, a large group of family and friends gathered to wish them well. They were surrounded by the sounds of the laughter and tears of those who had come to witness their wedding. But there was also another sound to be heard on that day, a sound that had not been heard in the community for many years. High above the church, in the belfry that had towered over it for 125 years, the historic brass bell rang out its greetings, announcing the beginning of a new marriage and the return of an old tradition.
When Cuba Church was constructed in 1877, the handmade bell was installed to be used as a means to call church members to worship, as was the custom of most churches in that day. Older members of the congregation still remember the sound of the bell on Sunday mornings.
“When I was a child,” recalls 88-year-old Temple McElroy, “I remember hearing the bells from all the churches ring every Sunday all over town. Baptist, Methodists, Holiness — they all rang at the same time. It was beautiful.”
According to other members of the church, the teenagers who attended in the early days were allowed to ring the bell every Sunday. It was a privilege, they say, to be the first one there and get to pull that heavy rope, sounding the call for worshipers to gather.
But, over the years, time took its toll on the bell, causing damage to the pulleys and framework. In the early 1950s, members of the church stopped using the bell because of the danger of its falling from its perch in the belfry. It lay dormant for 30 years.
A brief use in the ’80s
For a brief period in 1985, church members tried to re-establish the use of the bell. After three decades of silence, it was used in celebration of the wedding of Jeff and Christi Shaw. Intentions were to return to regular Sunday morning bell ringing, but after only a short time, the bell was again rendered a danger to those below it. Plans to ring the bell on a regular basis were halted. The bell, once again, was out of commission.
It was during that brief period in 1985 that young Susan Smith remembers hearing the bell.
“I grew up in this church,” she says, “and I have always been here. I remember hearing the bell ring when I was a child, and I wanted to hear it ring at my wedding.”
When Susan approached Ernie Nelson, who is now pastor of the church, he was hesitant. He had heard that the bell was not in good repair, and that it had threatened to fall when it had been used in the mid-80s.
“Susan wanted to hear it ring at her wedding,” he remembers, “so I decided to see if it would be possible to repair it.”
After inspecting the bell to see if it could be fixed, Nelson discovered that the problem was not with the bell itself but with the framework and pulleys that held it in place.
“The bell had been turned upside down in there and when we turned it upright the whole belfry shook.”
Ready to repair
Determined to give Susan the wedding she wanted, Nelson and youth minister Jason Smith began to repair it. It took only two days to complete the task of replacing pulleys and rebuilding the framework. The bell was ready for use in early May.
“We wanted to go ahead and start ringing the bell to mark certain occasions,” Nelson says. “But we wanted the first time to be something special.”
The sound of the bell could be heard throughout the community as it rang on May 26 as part of the Memorial Day celebration. It rang in remembrance of fallen soldiers, in memory of deceased church members and in honor of missionaries who served the Lord, both past and present, ringing three times for each. Casey Vaughn, descendant of the church’s first pastor Christopher Columbus Vaughn, was given the honor of ringing the bell for the ceremony.
Members of Cuba, both young and old, are thrilled with the prospect of the bell being used again. For older members, like Temple McElroy, it brings back memories of a simpler time. For younger members, it will be the beginning of a new tradition at the church. Nelson intends to use the bell as part of the children’s ministry by selecting bell-ringers based on their Scripture memorization and Bible knowledge. It will be used as a tool to promote Bible study in the lives of the children.
On Sunday, June 2, the old bell that stood silent for so long once again called churchgoers to worship. A sound that had been too long missing from the community will again be heard for miles around. It marks not only the beginning of a new tradition at Cuba, but a return to an old way that has been sorely absent for too long.
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