Morton Repairs
Zion's Historic Church Bell Trunnion

     The bell in the historic Zion Lutheran Church Bell Tower in Silverhill was hoisted in place at the end of the 1920s, replacing the original bell which now sits in the Silverhill School yard. Church and school shared the same bell, originally gifted by Silverhill founder Oscar Johnson.

     Zion Lutheran Church Chairperson Peter Midgarden and Jim Morton hold pieces of 78 year-old trunnion used for historic church's tolling mechanism. “Able to weld tin foil,” Morton was able to repair cast iron gudgeon. Click to enlarge.

     The “new” bell was constructed so that it could freely ring or so that it could be tolled with a small hammer mounted on trunnions inside the bell casing for events such as funerals. Sometime in these last 78 years, one of the trunnions broke, but the tolling mechanism limped along. In Bell Tower renovation Peter Midgarden removed the broken trunnion and brought it to Jim Morton. Pete notes that Jim is “so skilled in welding that he could weld two pieces of Mom's tinfoil.” Jim had to special order welding rod compatible with these old pieces of cast iron trunnion. After a little wait, Jim and Pete examined the weld work and Midgarden reinstalled that gudgeon. So now the story has been “tolled.”