- Dates
- 1976-10 – 1977-06
- Kind
- Publication
- Where
- Holy Cross Catholic Church building
- Participants
- Larry McDonough (organizer) · Father Alvin Yard, O.F.M.C. (officiant) · Rose J. Greene Connaghan (participant)
- Eras
- Modern era
- Concepts
- communicationpublicationreligioncommunityeconomyheritage
- Within
- Beaver Island
Summary
The Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids raised money through 1976 and early 1977 for a carillon (a speaker and tape-disk chime system) for the tower of Holy Cross Church on Beaver Island. The fund was memorialized in the Beaver Beacon from October 1976 through the instrument’s dedication on 29 May 1977.
History
An October 1976 letter to the Beacon from the Grand Rapids club reported that its eleventh annual “Beaver Island Caper,” held 9 October and drawing about 225 guests, had netted $882 toward a savings fund for the carillon, already over $1,500 against an estimated $3,500 total cost. The letter explained the carillon as speakers mounted in the church tower that would play taped music and chimes at set times, and solicited further donations or memorials to be sent to L. W. McDonough in Grand Rapids. A November 1976 issue repeated the appeal in nearly identical language, with the same $1,500-against-$3,500 figures and remittance address (there printed “L.W. McLaugh,” evidently an OCR misreading of McDonough).
By April 1977 the Grand Rapids club was inviting “all our friends and relatives” to join a Memorial Day weekend Mass and dedication of the Holy Cross carillon on Sunday, 29 May, with Mass at 10:00 a.m. and the dedication at 11:00. The May issue repeated the invitation and added a 5:00 p.m. barbecue-chicken dinner afterward at the parish hall.
The June 1977 Beacon reported the dedication had taken place as planned. The memorial was credited to David and Helen Pike, who had long imagined bells sounding across the island’s lakes and bays; after David’s death, Helen gave money toward the project through Larry McDonough of the Grand Rapids club. The fund, which organizers had expected to take several years, was completed in under one. At the dedication, Father Alvin Yard gave the opening prayer, and Francis E. Pike presented a memorial plaque on behalf of the Grand Rapids club to Rose Connaghan and Jim Wojan, representing the Holy Cross parish council. Yard read the names inscribed on the memorial and the congregation heard hymns played on the carillon before gathering for refreshments in the church hall. The report named Mr. and Mrs. Richard O’Donnell, president of the Grand Rapids club, and Mr. and Mrs. McDonough among those thanked for completing the project, and noted that further memorial inscriptions and hymn tapes were still being sought.
Two “Thirty Years Ago” retrospective columns, republished in the Beacon in 2006 and 2007, restate the same figures and narrative without adding new particulars, except one: the 2007 column recalls that support for the fund had come over the years from the Beaver Island Club of Chicago as well as Grand Rapids, and that in the fund-drive year the Grand Rapids club’s giving surpassed Chicago’s.
Significance
The carillon fund shows the off-island Beaver Island clubs in Grand Rapids and Chicago acting as a fundraising channel for a specific island parish project, completing in under a year an appeal organizers had expected to take several years. The dedication tied the completed instrument to a named memorial gift from Helen and the late David Pike, making it one of the Beacon’s more fully documented small capital projects: appeal, progress report, dedication, and a later published recollection all survive in the record.
Evidence and limits
This is a direct publication and fundraising record, not an independent account: the October and November appeals and the June dedication report all originate with the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids or its members (the dedication account is credited to Mrs. Helen M. Pike). No instrument specification, final accounting, or donor ledger was located. The 2006 and 2007 retrospectives are the Beacon’s own later republication of the same material and do not constitute an independent source, apart from the Chicago-club detail noted above.
Open questions
- No instrument specification, final cost, or donor ledger for the carillon survives in the issues examined.
- The Beaver Island Club of Chicago’s total contribution, and whether it has its own article-worthy record, is not established here.
- The list of memorial inscriptions the June 1977 dedication read aloud was not transcribed in the Beacon report and is not recovered.
See also
Sources
- Reports a carillon savings fund exceeding $1,500, an estimated project cost of approximately $3,500, and requests additional donations or memorials through L. W. McDonough. It describes a proposed speaker and tape-disk system, not an installed carillon or completed project. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-10_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue confirms the public fundraising appeal and printed donation form.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-10_Beaver-Beacon
- Repeats the carillon fund report and appeal, including more than $1,500 raised against an approximately $3,500 cost and the McDonough remittance address. It does not establish installation or final accounting. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1976-11_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue confirms the repeated public appeal.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1976-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Invites the Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids and other friends and relatives to the scheduled May 29 Mass and carillon dedication. It shows a planned public milestone but does not establish installation completion, final accounting, attendance, or dedication outcome. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-04_Beaver-Beacon
- The held twelve-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the scheduled dedication invitation.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1977-04_Beaver-Beacon
- Repeats the May 29 Mass and carillon dedication invitation and adds the 5:00 p.m. Holy Cross Parish Hall barbecue chicken dinner. These are advance notices and do not establish installation completion, attendance, proceeds, or a final accounting. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-05_Beaver-Beacon
- The held twelve-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the dedication and parish-dinner notices.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1977-05_Beaver-Beacon
- Reports that the carillon memorial was completed in less than a year and dedicated May 29, with continuing memorial inscriptions and tape purchases still sought. It supplies a completion report but not the final cost, donor ledger, instrument specifications, or maintenance record. The holding institution's portal restricts automated access; the archive holds a copy of this issue and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 1977-06_Beaver-Beacon
- The held ten-page issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR source and confirms the completed dedication and continuing memorial appeal.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 1977-06_Beaver-Beacon
- Beaver Beacon, November 1976, "Thirty Years Ago" retrospective (published 2006).A 2006 thirty-years-ago column restates the October 9 Beaver Island Caper's $882 and the fund standing at $1,500 of $3,500 needed, and identifies the target instrument as "automated electronic chimes." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2006-11_Beaver-Beacon
- Beaver Beacon, June 1977, "Thirty Years Ago" retrospective (published 2007).A 2007 thirty-years-ago column restates the dedication and the Pike family's role, and adds that support for the fund had come over the years from the Beaver Island Club of Chicago as well as Grand Rapids, with the Grand Rapids club's giving surpassing Chicago's "this year." No public copy of this file is known; the archive holds one and can provide it on request.data1 · beaver-island-archive · beaver_beacon · 2007-06_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR Markdown source and preserves the issue-level provenance for this cited report or comparison.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2006-11_Beaver-Beacon
- The held issue PDF is paired with the canonical OCR Markdown source and preserves the issue-level provenance for this cited report or comparison.data1 · beaver-island-archive · scans · beaver_beacon · issues · 2007-06_Beaver-Beacon
Added 3 August 2026. Recent changes
Cite this article
Beaver Island Archive, “Beaver Island Holy Cross carillon fund public appeal, 1976”, https://beaverislandarchive.org/events/beaver-island-holy-cross-carillon-fund-1976/, accessed [date], citing Beaver Beacon, October 1976, Beaver Island Club of Grand Rapids letter and “Beaver Island Carillon Fund” form. (and 13 further sources listed on the page).
Last revised 2026-08-03. Fill in [date] with the date you read it — this page is static and cannot know that.
BibTeX for “Beaver Island Holy Cross carillon fund public appeal, 1976”RIS for “Beaver Island Holy Cross carillon fund public appeal, 1976”