Thieves steal historic school bell from Assistance League of Salem-Keizer
A historic school bell that has hung outside of the Assistance League Daue House Gift Shop in Salem for decades was stolen over the Memorial Day weekend.
Volunteers with the Assistance League of Salem-Keizer are hoping the community will come forward with information about the bell.
“I’m just heartbroken. I mean, good grief. Who needs our bell?” said Deana Dean, the volunteer property manager at Daue House.
The Salem Police Department confirmed the stolen bell was reported by an Assistance League volunteer on May 28. The bell was likely stolen sometime between May 27 and May 28, said Angela Hedrick, the department’s public information officer. There are no suspects in the theft.
Sherri Frank, a volunteer at the gift shop at 1095 Saginaw Street S., said the bell weighs about 80 pounds and is made of brass. It hung outside the gift shop where the nonprofit bases its Operation School Bell program.
Operation School Bell started in 1960 and provides clothing, shoes and food to kids in the Salem-Keizer School District. Frank said the organization clothes 4,000 children a year.
Don Dean, an Assistance League volunteer and Deana Dean’s husband, said the bell was once a school bell at a school in west Salem which has since been demolished. The bell was situated between the Carriage House and the Daue House on Saginaw Street, he said.
“Somebody had to put some real effort into it,” Dean said. “That’s a good sized bell…it took more than one person to do it for sure.”
Deana Dean said the organization alerted metal recycling centers to keep a look out for the historic bell in case the thieves try to cash it out.
She said the bell was stolen not long after thieves broke into the organization’s gift shop, breaking a glass case and stealing a number of necklaces.
“I’m hoping someone will have a slip of the tongue,” Deana Dean said. “And say, ‘I’ve got this great big bell.”
Community members with information on the bell can call the Assistance League of Salem-Keizer at 503-364-8318.
Contact reporter Joe Siess: [email protected] or 503-335-7790.
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Joe Siess is a reporter for Salem Reporter. Joe joined Salem Reporter in 2024 and primarily covers city and county government but loves surprises. Joe previously reported for the Redmond Spokesman, the Bulletin in Bend, Klamath Falls Herald and News and the Malheur Enterprise. He was born in Independence, MO, where the Oregon Trail officially starts, and grew up in the Kansas City area.
