The bell that once called children to school and later summoned volunteer firefighters is now part of a memorial garden dedicated to deceased members of the Hereford Volunteer Fire Company and its ladies auxiliary.

The garden, including the bell, bell stand and a bronze plaque, will be dedicated during a ceremony Sunday, Sept. 14, at 2 p.m. The memorial garden is on the west side of the fire company facility on Monkton Road.

Since the fire company formed in 1924, 98 members have died. Four were killed in the line of duty, and two died while on fire company business.

In addition, 29 members of the ladies auxiliary have died since it was organized in 1948.

According to a history written by Stewart Rhine for the fire company's 75th anniversary in 1999, the bell came from the one-room schoolhouse on Yeoho Road. Rhine notes it was used by the fire company from 1924 to 1927, until an electric siren was put on a telephone pole at York and Monkton roads.

"After it wasn't used anymore, the bell used to sit out in front of the old fire hall on a stand," said volunteer firefighter Wayne Smith, who is helping to organize the dedication. "Then it was inside for a while, but when we got the new fire house, the ladies auxiliary put it in a garden and that's where it will always be from now on."

The auxiliary paid for an engraved plaque that will be unveiled Sept. 14.

The fire company hasn't lost a member in the line of duty since 1965, when Robert Thomas was fighting a fire in the woods off of Bernoudy Road in White Hall and his Jeep rolled over, killing him. The next Jeep the fire company bought had a steel cab to protect the crew.

In 1940, Howard Miller fell from a fire engine and was killed. Soon after, fire engines were made with enclosed cabs for firefighters.

The fire company saw its biggest loss in April 1933, when two members died while responding to a fire in White Hall. Elwood Hicks and Clarence Almony were riding a 1928 fire engine that broke a spring on its front axle as the engine took a curve on Wiseburg Road, according to the history. The engine overturned. Hicks was pinned underneath and died that day. Almony was thrown into a fence post and died the next day.

Smith said the two deaths while on fire company business occurred while the men were in Ocean City, attending the state firefighters' convention. John Almony died in 1933 and Percy Naylor in 1965.

The Sept. 14 ceremony is free and open to the public. Light refreshments at the fire station will follow. The Hereford Volunteer Fire Company is at 510 Monkton Road, Monkton.

For details, call 410-887-1934.

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