After 20 years, bells again peal at Everett church

Published 10:12 pm Friday, May 23, 2008

EVERETT — The Rev. Edgar Rogers had a dream.

Rogers wanted the people who lived near his church to hear the sounds of carillon bells — traditional to the Anglicanfaith — pealing from the bell tower, to let them know there was a church nearby that cared.

On a sunny Trinity Sunday in May, Roger’s dream finally came to fruition as peals in the key of G cascaded from the bell tower that had sat silent for some 20 years after falling into disrepair.

Although Rogers never got to hear his dream while he was alive, today, looking down from heaven, the rector who taught a generation of depression-era Everett youth to dance the shoddishalong with the polka and the waltz, surely would be doing a dance, long-time church members said.

A four-peal set of Schulmerich electronic carillon bells recently played “Carillon for Joyful Day” in Roger’s honor at Trinity Episcopal Church at a dedication service outside the north tower entrance between the church’s two main Sunday services.

The carillon bell system was purchased through a donation from a former Trinity member who married in the church, said Dave Springer, Trinity’s music director. The donor wanted to remain anonymous.

The electronic carillon bell system was installed and played its first peals on Easter Sunday.

Now the bells ring each Sunday at noon, and daily at 6 p.m., with a chime on the hour.

About 100 people, many long-time Trinity members, children and families, and a few people who have been members of the church since the 1920s, came for the dedication of the church’s new bell system in honor of their rector, who had served at Trinity from 1911 until his death in 1941.

Of the roughly 12 members still at the church who knew Rogers, several were in attendance.

As a crowd of church members assembled in front of the bell tower, Spring, the Rev. Lawrence Perry and the Rev. Donna VandeKieft presented the carillons.

Mary Wheeler, who has attended Trinity since 1929, said she was happy Trinity had its bells back and said they were a fitting honor for Rogers. Wheeler learned the waltz, polka and square dance from Rogers.

“He hired a teacher and used a wind-up Victrola for the music,” she said. She said she remembers that Rogers was short, sometimes had holes in his shoes “and he always wore his collar.”

Wheeler came to Everett from Canada, when she was 8, and now lives just two blocks from the church, she said.

“I grew up with Father Rogers. He lived at the church rectory parish, he didn’t own a car, but walked everywhere,” she said.

Others, including Alicia Grund Prater, said the bells harked to other times. She also learned to dance at Roger’s dances. Prater said Rogers organized the dances “to keep kids off the streets.” She remembered the rector who once told her she needed to go home when she broke out with measles during a church service.

She said Rogers was approachable, caring and compassionate, yet always traditional. “I was pretty young at the time, but I thought he was pretty special. I just loved him,” Prater said.

Reporter Leita Hermanson Crossfield: 425-339-3449 or lcrossfield@heraldnet.com.

What’s a carillon?

A carillon is a set of bells traditionally playable from a keyboard like an organ. Trinity’s new carillon is a digital set automatically programmed to play the hours, calls to worship and at other special times. It can play special peals such as “Westminster Abbey,” “Big Ben,” a solemn toll for a funeral or a joyous wedding or special occasion peal.

Trinity Episcopal Church, 2301 Hoyt Avenue.