Bell tolled at many McHenry events cracks during Memorial Day ceremony

It’s become a tradition in McHenry: On New Year’s Eve, during events at Veteran’s Memorial Park and during the annual Memorial Day service there, Frank McClatchey would ring the bell in his front yard.

On Monday – while the names of veterans who have died in the past year were called out – another sad note was struck.

“Halfway through, it wasn’t sounding right. You could barely hear it,” McClatchey, a former McHenry alderman, said of his bell.

He took a closer look, and cracks had developed in the bell. By the time the ceremony ended, a portion of the bell came off.

“I didn’t want to stop ringing it,” even with the cracks forming, McClatchey said. “It is Memorial Day. So I kept ringing it” with each name called out.

The bell dates from the 1890s, but McClatchey acquired it about 20 years ago at a garage sale in McHenry.

“There was this bell in pieces in the driveway – the yoke, the bell, everything,” he said of the garage sale.

The homeowner said the bell came from his family farm, where they would ring it every New Year’s Eve.

“It was all rusted, but I brought it home, cleaned it up and painted it,” McClatchey said.

When the McClatchey family moved into a home near Veteran’s Park a decade ago, the cast iron bell came with them.

“It was a staple for the Pearl Street Market,” he said. “People will come by and ring the bell,” and the bands playing at the bandshell would ask him to ring it during songs, too.

Since posting photos of the now-cracked bell to social media, he has had many offers to help get it fixed.

“So many people want to chip in,” including a welder who offered to fix it for free, McClatchey said. “Cast iron welding is very difficult – the iron has a lot of carbon in it – but it can be done.”