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Detroit industrialist Roy A. Fruehauf of the Fruehauf Trailer Corporation and his family donated a 77-bell carillon cast by Petit and Fritsen Bell Foundry in France. The carillon was dedicated on May 15, 1960 by Wendell Westcott..
The carillon was
renovated in 1999-2000 by Meeks, Watson, and Company. Automatic play
from a computer or organ was added in 2010.
References
1960 "Fruehauf
Believed Donor of Carillon," Battle Creek Enquirer, January
25, 1960, Page 11.
A $100,000 carillon of 77 bells given to the Presbyterian Kirk-in-the
Hills have arrived at Bloomfield Hills with a pretty good clue to the
identity of their anonymous donor.
The five largest bells were inscribed each with a given came and a
biblical quotation.
The names were Roy, Ruth, Ruth Ann, Randall and Royce. Those are the given
names of Detroit industrialist Roy A. Fruehauf, his wife and children.
Fruehauf also is a trustee of the church.
The church pastor, Dr. Harold C. De Windt said, however, that he was bound
not to reveal the identity of the donor of the bells, which are scheduled
to be installed by Easter time.
1960 "77 Bells In Carillon at Kirk-in-Hills," Detroit Free Press, February 6, 1960, Page 6.
1960 "Wendell
Westcott," Lansing State Journal, May 15, 1960, Page 49.
Will be the guest recitalist Sunday, May 15, when the 77-bell carillon at
the Kirk in the Hill in Bloomfield Hills.
1965 Roy August Fruehauf (1 Oct 1908 - 30 Oct 1965) grave
Kirk
in the Hills Presbyterian Church, Bloomfield Hills, Michigan,
Fruehauf Trailer Historical Society
Carillon and Bells donated to Kirk in the Hills by an "Anonymous Donor"
© 2023 Morris A. Pierce