winter 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine 17
16 winter 2014 | St. Lawrence University Magazine
Spirituality of St. Lawrence
St. Lawrence University may not be known as a religious
institution. In fact, it shed its last vestiges of formal religious
affiliation with the Unitarian-Universalist Church when the
Theological School closed in 1965. Yet, it continues to be a
very spiritual place for many students, alumni, faculty, staff
and members of the community.
The chapel hosts many of St. Lawrence’s most important
ceremonies, such as Convocation, Moving-Up Day and the
annual Candlelight Service. Regular concerts, such as “Noon
in the Chapel,” organ recitals and various musical perfor-
mances take place there. Of course, the chapel is also home
to religious services, including regular Catholic masses,
gospel worship, multi-faith celebrations such as the Bacca-
laureate Service at Commencement, and weddings.
Bell-Ringing Tradition
The chapel is also the home of the Bacheller Memorial
Chime, perhaps the most recognizable feature of the chapel
to many. The chime has been played by St. Lawrence bell-
ringers since 1926, a tradition that was recently honored
by Traditional Arts in Upstate New York (see page 22).
And for as long as anyone can remember, bell-ringers have
been climbing the bell tower’s 59 steps to play the Bacheller
Chime for the campus and the town daily at 5 p.m. when
classes are in session.
Following the fire, several binders of music were recovered.
Amazingly, only one suffered any serious damage. Even
that one, though, could be salvaged. Later that same week,
bell-ringers Janel Smith ’99, Cody
Witherell ’11 and Julie Collins
’14 met for dinner at Chaplain
Kathleen Buckley’s house
and went to work.
“We’re still repairing the
music,” Witherell said in
mid-November. “Water and
soot had ‘glued’ some of the
sheets together, and we’ve had
to peel them apart very care-
fully. We are planning on digitizing
the music, and then probably donating the originals to the
University archives for safe-keeping. Some of the music is
original, from the very first chimers.”
“I was surprised that so much of the music was OK and
could still be played,” Smith said. “The one binder that
was burned contained ‘Chapel Bells.’ We put that and the
Christmas music back together. It felt good to do, and it
made us all feel a lot better.”
'Here's to You'
Gabrielle “Gabby” Schreffler ’16 may be in only her second
year at St. Lawrence, but already she has formed a deep con-
nection to the campus and its traditions.
A crew team member, Gabby was rowing on Sunday morn-
ing and missed the fire. When she later walked by the chapel
and saw the damage, she felt compelled to send a message
on Twitter: “So sad to walk by the bell tower this morning.”
“It’s a huge part of the history here, and it seemed like shar-
ing the news was the right thing to do,” Gabby said later.
“The next day after breakfast I was walking to the library
when I saw the orange fencing they’d put up around the
chapel. That’s when it really hit me what had happened.”
Gabby had grown fond of hearing the chapel bells ring each
day at 5 p.m. And while electronic recordings broadcast from
Richardson Hall have continued to honor the bell-ringers, the
bells and their music, to Gabby it’s just not the same.
“It’s something I looked forward to hearing every day,” she
said in early November. “It’s something unique that seems to
bring the campus together. Everyone is one big family here.
It’s sad now that we don’t get to hear (the real bells).”
In fact, the chapel will be fully restored and the Bacheller
Memorial Chime will once again “ring out the ending of
each day,” to borrow a lyric from “Chapel Bells,” one of
St. Lawrence’s beloved college songs.
University officials worked with insurers and specialists
through December to inspect the damage and determine
the best plan for restoring the chapel. Workers using a large
crane removed the remaining damaged portion of the steeple
in November, as clean-up crews continued to work and to
assess what could be salvaged inside the chapel. The Uni-
versity is saving the damaged remnants of the steeple and
spire and hopes to repair as many sections as possible using
original materials.
“The artistry and distinctive craftsmanship required for this
project means we will need ample time to ensure the high-
est quality work,” President William L. Fox ’75 said in his
monthly letter to the University community in November.
When the chapel is restored and the bells are ready to be
rung again, Janel Smith plans to be there and to ring. The
song she’d like to play?
A Laurentian Singers favorite, “Old St. Lawrence, Here’s to You.”
Ryan Deuel is St. Lawrence’s director of media relations.
“The morning after the fire, the view from my ODY Library office window was of students stopping,
leaning back, aiming their smart phones and photographing the damage from the fire. I retired to our
Vance University Archives and Special Collections. There, the institutional memory of the chapel is
assembled in photographs, programs, a few letters, a typewritten history, descriptions of the stained-
glass windows, and Kodachrome slides. (They) capture the iconic quality of Gunnison as a place of
gathering, uncontested by time, symbolic of gathering in the name of a University’s community.”
–From a blog post at
by Electronic Services Librarian Paul Doty
“Gunnison Chapel is a key
ingredient in my St. Lawrence
memories. Weekly freshman
meetings, Moving-Up Day
ceremonies, the Candlelight
Service, the annual song fests,
and the bells echoing across
campus at 5 o’clock every day
(shaped) those memories. Walks
down the Avenue of the Elms and the view
from the 13th hole of the golf course were highlighted
by the chapel spire silhouetted in the distance.
“Many of those memories were deepened when Bernie
and I returned to St. Lawrence. The bells were the
signal for our children to be home by the time the alma
mater was finished. Both daughters were married in
the chapel, and Bernie's memorial service and those of
many friends were held there. I am saddened by the
damage to the chapel, but I am confident that the bells
will soon chime once again and memories will continue
to accrue for a multitude of Laurentians for Life.”
–Lennie Dougherty McKinnon '58
In mid-November, the charred remnants of the steeple base were painstakingly extracted from its supporting stonework and removed from the scene. The University
plans to fully restore the damaged spire and steeple.
St. Lawrence students made sure at least some bells “rang out the ending of
each day,” to paraphrase a beloved University song. The Monday after the
weekend fire, members of the Outing Club organized this symbolic bell-ringing,
clanging the cowbells popular at hockey games, at the time the chapel bells
would normally have been played. Soon, speakers mounted on the walls of
Richardson Hall began broadcasting the reassuring music daily at 5 o’clock.
