Volume 10 , Issue 43

1948 - Old School Bell & DeGeer's

1948 - Old School Bell & DeGeer's The Oklahoman, dated May 2, 1948, page 16, mentioned this headline, Old Bell Rings Out Memories.

The Oklahoman, 1948 -- "Some 46 years ago (1902) Mrs. Samuel G. Welles, then Miss Mab DeGeer, rang the bell at Mirable school, Woods county, for what she thought was the last time.

"The young teacher turned her back on the school to marry a young Episcopal minister, who had been sent into the cherokee strip as a missionary.

"A few days ago on Mrs. Welles 70th birthday she and Mrs. Frank L. Humphrey, 1925 NW 40, 'had fun' ringing the old school bell. This time it was mounted on a special tower at Buttonwood farm. Mrs. Welles present home 11 miles out of Trenton, N.J.

"Mrs. humphrey met Welles when he was on the staff of a church in Cincnnati. Mrs. Humphrey's parents came to Oklahoma in 1911 and a year later Welles and his new wife came back. They had been married in Wichita a few years earlier.

"Mrs. Welles taught school at Mirable several years before her marriage. The school was on the homestead of her aunt, Miss Hessie Renfrew, who staked claim there in the strip opening of 1893.

"Welles advanced through the Episcopal clergy until at the time of his death about 10 years ago (1938) he was canon of the cathedral at Trenton.

"When the old school near Alva was torn down recently Mrs. Welles children joined in presenting the 300-pound iron bell to her.

"The tower was designed by her daughter, Mrs. Charles Owen, Storrs, Conn., college art instructor. The bell was purchased and delivered by a son, Samuel G. Jr., associate editor of Time magazine.

"A cousin, Renfrew I. DeGeer, Alva, handled the acquisition at the Oklahoma end.

Other Welles children are Edward, dean of the Episcopal cathedral, Buffalo, N. Y.: Mary Pauline, freelance writer, and muriel, wife of Ted Hall, editor of the Milburn, N. J., newspaper.

"Mrs. Humphrey went to New Jersey to be with Mrs. Welles on her birthday and spent the day at the palatial home ringing the old bell and talking over old times. She stopped in Cincinnati to visit friends and relatives before coming back to Oklahoma City."
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