• 11/1/2004
  • Brodhead, WI
  • Ellen Williams-Masson
  • Munroe Times

Dale Everson’s voice has been stilled, but his actions speak louder than words to illustrate how he feels for his church.

The 43-year member of the Congregational United Church of Christ was diagnosed with throat cancer in December 1997 and received chemotherapy and radiation to kill the tumor. Although his cancer was eradicated, continuing throat pain led to surgery in March of 1999 to remove parts of his tongue, esophagus and larynx.

Dale Everson has devoted about 200 hours to restoring this bell to mint condition after it was damaged in a move to the Congregational United Church of Christ in Brodhead.

“He never complained one time, or questioned God,” Dale’s wife, Holly, said. “He just asked the doctors, ‘What do I need to do?” Dale’s positive attitude and sense of humor carried the couple through their challenges, and Holly said that Dale considers the loss of his voice an adequate trade-off in order to be free of pain. “I won this round with cancer,” he said.

Dale communicates by e-mail, text messaging, gestures and handwriting. When asked if he had any regrets about choosing the surgery, he scribbled with a smile, “Holly talks enough for both.”

It would be understandable if a cancer survivor chose to withdraw and become self-absorbed as a result of his ordeal, but Everson has donated all his spare time during the past year to a project for his congregation.

The members of the Congregational Church of Christ moved to a new building on the outskirts of town a couple of years ago, and the bell from the old church building was damaged during the relocation. Everson took it upon himself to not only patch the broken pieces from the crown of the bell, but also restore the bell to mint condition and build a new frame and wheel.

After determining the patina-covered bell was bronze, Everson painstakingly pieced the puzzle back together and welded small plates on the inside of the bell’s crown to hold the pieces in place. He then welded the pieces together and restored the smooth dome of the bell. Of all the shattered pieces, the only one he was unable to recover was a small inch and a half triangle of metal that was lost in the move.

After sandblasting and painting all the metalwork that supports the bell, Everson was ready to reassemble everything, with the repaired bell mounted on its wooden frame and the wheel standing alongside. The bell can no longer be rung because the crown damage ruined its tone.

Everson has worked with metal and wood for most of his life, and he has been the plant manager or in the engineering department of Martin Automatic Inc. in Rockford for 35 years. He is so dedicated that he even continued working during his cancer treatments, and said he never plans to retire because “retired people die.” He estimates he has devoted more than 200 hours to the bell restoration.

Dale’s fabulous sense of humor and great attitude are exemplified by a sign he hung on the bell during restoration: “The bell is sort of like me. Able to be fixed but unable to make a sound now.”