Paradise celebrates the return of the clock

PARADISE – Residents of Paradise filed into the gymnasium at the Paradise Elementary School last week to celebrate the return of one of the school’s old pendulum clocks.

The clock, which dates back to 1900 and until recently was displayed in Kalispell at the Museum at Central School in the seat of Flathead County.

Last week the clock returned to its home in Paradise following ceremonies in Kalispell and in Paradise.

The Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee worked with the staff at the Museum at Central School and members of the Northwest Montana Historical Society to return the clock to Sanders County in support of efforts to save and repurpose the Paradise Elementary School.

“It is time for this building to become a cultural and arts center for this part of the state,” Judy Stephens of the school’s preservation committee said.

The historic clock, a Sessions Regulator model, once hung in a classroom at the elementary school in Paradise.

A delegation from Paradise traveled to Kalispell to accept the clock, donning vintage outfits from the early 20th century.

The ceremony in Kalispell took place on the front steps of the city’s historic museum at 11 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 12.

The Paradise ceremony took place the following evening within the Paradise School building.

From 5 p.m. to 7 p.m. the preservation committee in Paradise presented the clock, in a ceremony that included speeches on the school’s history.

Once the ceremony commenced Dave Colyer brought the regulator clock to the front of the crowd, accompanied by a drum roll from those in attendance.

Colyer and Stephens then placed the clock on a display stand to a round of applause from the ceremony’s guests.

Addressing the crowd Stephens stated the preservation committee chose to present the clock last week to coincide with Veterans Day, to honor those who had served within the community.

Stephens added the preservation committee had planned the ceremony as a way to display their efforts to the community.

“We want to use this as a jumping off point to celebrate the whole project,” Stephens said.

Following the presentation of the clock, Mary Lou Hermes, dressed in the traditional clothing of a schoolteacher from the early 20th century were some of the speakers who addressed the assembled guests in the school’s gymnasium.

Hermes touched on several points of the school’s long history and introduced many individuals in attendance with direct connections to the school.

Some of the distinguished guests included teachers; coaches and bus drivers were all introduced and applauded as Hermes read out their contributions to the community.

Many of the individuals honored during the ceremony had a long history in the town of Paradise but the ceremony also made a point to distinguish some younger members of the town.

Josiah, Conrad and Brenden Vanderwall, three members of the last class to attend Paradise Elementary, made their way to the center of the gymnasium to the applause of the crowd.

How the school’s antique pendulum clock made its way from Paradise to Kalispell is somewhat of a mystery.

In the 1970s, an individual named Mr. Corbin, moved out of the Flathead Valley and gave the Paradise clock to his good friends Gene and Dorothy McGlenn, due to D. McGlenn’s fondness for antiques.

According to the Director of the Northwest Montana Historical Society Gil Jordan, it is yet unknown how Corbin came to obtain the timepiece.

The McGlenn’s, who were among the founders of the Museum at Central School, decided to donate the clock to the Northwest Montana Historical Society in 2002.

The Kalispell museum displayed the clock on the wall of the museum’s restored classroom, where it stayed until a few months ago when members of Paradise’s preservation committee began looking into the possibility of recurring the clock to Paradise.

Efforts to return the clock to Paradise were aided by a recent donation to the Kalispell museum.

Marlene “Polly” Carr, wife of Bill Carr, the former postmaster of Kalispell donated a classic clock that had hung in the original Kalispell Post Office.

The post office’s clock now hangs in the Museum at Central School where the Paradise school clock was once displayed.

Based on input from the Paradise community, the Paradise Elementary School Preservation Committee has been meeting for nine months to ensure a future for the school that meets the needs of the community.

The committee hopes the historic building can serve the community of Paradise, Sanders County, this region of Montana and the rest of the state through several different uses.

The committee plans three broad uses for the structure including using the space as a shared area for a community center, a visitor center, and a cultural and arts center.

The preservation committee received a $16,000 grant from the Montana Department of Commerce to conduct a feasibility study to guide the group’s decision making as the building is repurposed.

The study will begin in January of 2015, with additional work being done by the Community Design Center at Montana State University in Bozeman and the School of Business at the University of Montana in Missoula.

The local organization is currently raising the $4,000 in matching funds needed to supplement the state grant.

Donations were accepted throughout the ceremony welcoming the school’s clock back to town.