The Church Bell

In 2009 the bell was refurbished and placed on a granite block
outside the Sanctuary in memory of Linda Schrock.   

A one-hundred-year-old bell, that had originally warned citizens that a locomotive was approaching down the railroad track, found a new and permanent home atop The First United Methodist Church building in Homosassa on November 10, 1989.  The 200 pound bell has a long history.
    The bell was originally given to the church in the 1930s by B.W. McMullen who was a conductor for the Atlantic Coast Line Railroad.  A resident of Jacksonville,  Florida, his run on the train was from that city to St. Petersburg.  The bell, which originally hung in the old church building in Old Homosassa, was scheduled to be dedicated in 1937, but McMullen died before the ceremony could take place.  McMullen's son,  Robert, took his father's place at the dedication ceremonies at the first church.  Robert, also, was a conductor for that railroad.  The District Superintendent of the Gainesville District presided at the dedication.
    The bell was not from an engine that ran on the line to Old Homosassa, as some had thought, explains Elta Whilden, a long-time member of the church.  The bell was from a coal engine on the line McMullen served.  Mr. McMullen and his wife, Clair Pratt McMullen, planned to make their home in Old Homosassa when he retired from the railroad.  McMullen requested and received the bell.
    When the first church was demolished, the bell was saved and moved, this time to a storage area while construction at the new church was being completed.  For some reason the bell remained hidden in a storage closet until, at the urging of Mrs. Whilden, Rev. John Denmark decided to give it the place of honor it deserved.
    A member of the church, Don Burtt built a belfry to house the bell.  Joe Henry, one of the church's trustees, and his wife Delores, cleaned the bell and painted it gold.  Rev. Denmark clanged the bell one time before it was lifted in place first, then the bell was hoisted and attached.  Next the arched top was placed above it.  Later a cross was placed at it's pinnacle.
    When everything was completed, Rev. Denmark said "It looks like it belongs."  He predicted many newcomers would think it had always been there.  He added "We have definitely improved the church's statement."  Mrs. Whilden said "It's like reattaching the old with the new.  That's very important."

From "The First One Hundred Years"
by Evelyn C. Bash