Narrated by David Reichard

---

This grandfather clock was a bequest to the church from the family of Frank Shumway.  Mr. Shumway, a longtime member of the church, was a long-serving president of the Amphion Club in Melrose, and the clock was a gift to him from the club’s members.  The Amphion Club was a men’s choral group that performed regularly at Memorial Hall in Melrose, and many men from the church were members.  A photo of the Amphion Club hangs next to the clock. When it was bequeathed to the church after Mr. Shumway’s death, the clock was located in the church parlor.

During the night of the fire (Thanksgiving Eve, 1967), in the darkness and smoke, the clock was mysteriously but carefully wrapped in a blanket and rescued.  There is a legend that local firefighters, presuming this large item to be a religious statue or icon, lifted the clock and carried it to the front lawn of a neighbor’s house across the street from the church.  There, it remained overnight and into the next day before it was discovered that the “sacred” item was a grandfather clock!  The clock was lovingly cleaned and restored to a working condition by John Curtis, and was placed in the new church parlor – renamed the “lounge” in the new building.

The clock is an 8-day pendulum clock and has the option for two different chimes – the traditional Westminster Chime, and a lesser-used Whittington Chime. The clock may also be silenced, should the hourly chime become an annoyance to the congregation (or perhaps the preaching pastor!).