Since You Asked: Disputed bell could stir school rivalry

Q: In 1969, our Marysville High School graduating class donated a large bell to the school that used to be rung at football games. The bell was given to us by the farmer who lived next door to my family and apparently had been used by sheepherders to call their flocks.

I moved away from the area but returned recently and went to the school to check on the bell. It was gone — moved to Lindhurst High School where it had been painted red and white.

The gift was important to our class. Maybe it could be shared by the two schools, like Stanford and Cal share the Axe.

A: No one seems to know how or when the bell ended up at Lindhurst. And the school's mascot, an imp sometimes compared to a little red devil, ain't talkin'.

You described the bell as quite heavy — about 18 inches tall and 18 inches in diameter. Moving it couldn't have been done casually.

Gay Todd, superintendent of the Marysville Joint Unified School District, said the bell was rung after touchdowns at Marysville High School football games. It's possible the bell ended up at Lindhurst High School during the days when both schools shared the Marysville football field.

"We need to get it back to Marysville," Todd said. "Some people may challenge that." One of those people would be Larry Patty, a Lindhurst teacher who retired two years ago. Patty said the bell was at Lindhurst as long as he can remember, even when the school opened 30-plus years ago. It's still rung there at football games, he said.

Or not.

The Marysville class of '69 gifter said last week he believes the bell is already back in Marysville, where the red and white paint is being removed. No word on whether a coat of orange and black paint is being applied.

"I can't imagine why Marysville High School should have it. It belongs at Lindhurst," said Patty, who called efforts to return the bell "ridiculous and sad."

Meanwhile, Melissa Mossley Linson, a member of the Lindhurst class of 1990 and member of a softball team coached by Patty, claimed there are two different bells. The one recently taken from Lindhurst was donated to the school in 1975, she said.

"Our bell is not nearly as big as Marysville's," Linson said, and that could be proved by researching old photos.

Do not ask for whom the bell will be tolling this fall because the controversy may not be over. If the bell really is back in Marysville, bolting it onto a concrete slab might not be a bad idea.

"It has a lot of symbolism," Todd said.

Since You Asked is published Tuesdays. Send questions to reporter Rob Young at the Appeal-Democrat, P.O. Box 431, Marysville CA 95901, e-mail him at ryoung@appealdemocrat.com or call 749-4710.