The School Bell

Bob Zybach: Volunteer program?

Lorna Grabe: Well, anyway he ... I was going to tell you one thing about the bell. The bell in the school house ... we didn't know whether to put in a bell or not, but in these old minutes, I was just looking up in them this morning that said, Sergeant Martinette from the Crime Prevention Lab told Barb that they had an idea where our bell was, that's the old bell, but would be hard to prove, about the same time our disappeared, Albany Union High advertised for a bell and paid two anonymous men forty dollars for one.

Bob Zybach: So you think Albany Union High might have the bell from Soap Creek School House?

Lorna Grabe: Right.

Bob Zybach: Has anybody approached them about that?

Lorna Grabe: No, we have a bell there now. I bought one at auction.

Bob Zybach: Have you thought about maybe trading for ... to get the original back?

Lorna Grabe: No, but I just read that this morning, so I didn't realize that. And there was one other place in here I was looking at the minutes too, ... this is in about 19 ... well, this one isn't dated, but it's probably about '76 or so.

Bob Zybach: Was there any thought of bringing this bell mystery up at the next

Bob Zybach: meeting or anything?

Lorna Grabe: To get the right bell?

Bob Zybach: Yeah.

Lorna Grabe: Yeah, we could.

Bob Zybach: You value authenticity and school ethics.

Lorna Grabe: Yeah, keeping it right. Here somebody ... this is interesting that ... this is before we had the deed yet, but somebody moving the school house ... "someone phoned Mona," that's Mona Luebbert, "and requested to move the school house to the Salem State Fairgrounds for a Bicentennial Project. Lorna suggested that we check the constitution to see if there's enough protection to keep something like this from happening." So we've had ... in fact, it was mentioned at one of our board meetings recently, that people are still requesting to buy this school house, you can't believe that people still think that it's available. That it's not, it is a historic site so we still have to tell people that this place is not for sale, it's a historic site. So it's important that we continue with this work of educating people on the historic value of this property.

Bob Zybach: And so the registration process certainty should accomplish that?

Lorna Grabe: Yeah.