Fire Chief helps restore church bell tower, becomes new ringer
Published 5:45 pm Tuesday, July 24, 2018
St. John’s Episcopal Church has been a part of the Bainbridge community for 150 years. It’s “the little white church with the red doors where everyone is welcome.”
Last Sunday, church member Rosemary Wilcox volunteered to ring the bell for the 10:30 service, and boy, did she ring it! Not knowing her own strength, she pulled too hard on the rope and actually flipped the bell!
Fortunately, Bainbridge is not just a small town, but is also a strong southern community where people still help one another. Bainbridge Public Safety Fire Chief Doyle Welch responded to St. John’s call for help. He brought his trucks and men to Broughton Street this morning. Chief Welch climbed onto the roof and into the bell tower, and was able to flip the extremely heavy bell back into its correct position.
Chief Welch is now an honorary bell ringer at St. John’s! The church offered a big thank you to him and his men for going above and beyond the call of duty to help the folks at St. John’s.