History of our Bell as told by Margaret Carroll Orr
Just after St. Hubert's was built in the late 1960's, the congregation decided they needed a bell tower even though they could not afford to build the tower or buy a brass bell. What to do? Clarence LeBus came to the rescue, and thus begins a most interesting story.
One night, my stepfather Clarence woke my mother and said he had something to confess. It seems that during WWI people were encouraged to gather metal, so that America could win the war. They were told to make whatever sacrifices were necessary. Sixteen year old Clarence decided to help with the war effort since he was too young to join the armed forces.
Clarence's father was a tobacco farmer, and he let Clarence borrow a wagon and a mule so he could drive around the community and collect metal, particularly brass for bullets.
Hearing of his efforts, the members of a black church called Clarence and said they were donating their brass church bell to the war effort. Clarence put the bell in the wagon and continued collecting metal. Then, he started thinking that it wasn't right to melt a church bell for bullets. He didn't think his conscious could handle that; yet he knew he would be breaking the law if he didn't turn the church bell over to the authorities. He couldn't give the bell back because the people would only find someone else to take the church bell to be melted.
After a great deal of soul-searching, he went out to one of his father's farms and dug a deep hole and buried the bell. He told no one what he had done; he was afraid he would be sent to prison. So, here he was fifty years later not able to sleep because of the brass bell. My mom told him to dig up the bell, that nothing would happen to him, and a church bell should be used as a church bell. The black church was no longer in existence, so it could not be returned to them. As you've probably guessed, the bell was put in the bell tower at St. Hubert's. Years later, when Clarence died on a Sunday and it was time for the peal of the church bell at St. Hubert's, "it had no voice". The bell would not ring. Today, the bell is known as the "The Bell Clarence", and today it has a peal.
