Lindenhurst High club ringing in old tradition with bell's return

The mystery of the missing bell may sound like a Nancy Drew title, but the journey a brass bell took from a Kiwanis-sponsored club at Lindenhurst High School in 1959 to a swap meet table in Farmingville in 2022 matters little now.

“We don’t know where this bell has been for all these years, but we know where it’s going and we feel really good that it’s going back to its home,” said Paula Vidal, a board member of the Lindenhurst chapter of Kiwanis International, a service club focused on helping children. 

The roughly 10-inch bell belonged to the Key Club, an after-school organization that is part of the Lindenhurst Kiwanis and has been at the high school since 1959.

The bell typically was rung at the start of Key Club meetings, Vidal said, much like a bell the Kiwanis ring at their gatherings. Kiwanis is an organization that started in 1915 and has chapters in 80 countries.

The local chapter gifted the bell to the high school club at the time of its founding, but it's unclear at what point it went missing.

Patchogue resident Bill Boss, who has an antiques and collectibles side business, was at a car show and swap meet at Bald Hill Cultural Center in Farmingville in November when he spotted the bell on a vendor’s table.

Boss was the founding president of Sayville High School's Key Club in 1978 — when the local Kiwanis chapter presented him with a bell — so decades later he recognized the significance of what was in front of him.

“It was like déjà vu,” Boss said. “I could barely make out the inscription, but I knew.”

Boss’ fond memories of his club prompted him to make an offer. The haggling began at a $200 asking price and ended with a $30 payment.

Boss, 62, took to the internet after using the inscription as a starting point and contacted Vidal, who was shocked to find out Lindenhurst High's Key Club even had been around that long.

“There’s something serendipitous about it all,” Vidal said. “We are so grateful for the kindness of this man.”

Boss said he was happy to show his gratitude toward the Kiwanis. He even attributed his career choice of working in human services with his high school experience, noting it gave him “a sense of camaraderie, a sense of doing good."

Another local Kiwanis member teamed with Vidal's husband to polish and otherwise spruce up the tarnished bell before Boss presented it to Lindenhurst High's Key Club president Marissa Howard, 16, at a ceremony Thursday.

“I’m so excited to be able to implement the bell into our meetings and teach the new and old members about the history,” Howard said.

The high school club has more than 60 members but other students also partake in its community-based activities, according to club adviser Samantha Berry. This year the club has hosted two blood drives, participated in a Habitat for Humanity build and worked with elementary students on several occasions, she said.

“It’s a really cool way to be with friends and make a change,” said Key Club member Vanessa Danese, 18.

The student said monetary support from the Kiwanis has been crucial, including by allowing her to attend a leadership conference online.

“The bell is a nice symbol of our solidarity with them," she added.

By Denise M. Bonilla

denise.bonilla@newsday.comdenisebonilla

Denise Bonilla has worked at Newsday since 2003 and covers the Town of Babylon, including the villages of Lindenhurst and Amityville.