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Stephen Housewright, a friend of Virginia Brewer, sent the following letter to Sound Portraits on March 26, 2001.

I began visiting Virginia Brewer a year ago after overhearing a conversation about her at the library: "She's not doing so well," someone said. I remembered her from about ten years ago, when my late partner and I had gone by her shop to look for some bells for him to use in his music. Her love of bells and her determination to "hold on" had impressed us both, and so I thought I'd drop in and check on her.

Well, she captured my attention and my affection immediately. She was sick, lying helpless in bed and dependent upon caregivers that came and went, but she remained confident that things would somehow work out so that her bell collection could remain intact and available for people to appreciate after her death. I'd brought a loaf of homemade bread for her, which turned out to be a good idea since she always had her main meal at noon -- a big bowl of soup. I've repeated the visit -- and the bread delivery -- every week since.

From time to time we'd talk about what would become of the bells, and the question became urgent as we watched the hastening deterioration of the museum building. There had been an extraordinary amount of rain here in Texas since the beginning of fall, and the old building was steadily coming down on top of the collection that Virginia had spent her life assembling. "The Lord will protect them," Virginia would say, "but He can't look after them forever."

Her prayers were answered when the State of Texas appropriated funds to the city of Canton through a program known as "Main Street," which gives grants to small towns to help them preserve their local heritage. Canton applied for and received a sum that will be used to spruce up the square and preserve our history, and a representative from the city visited Virginia to ask about the bell collection.

After a few weeks of deliberation and bargaining, the city agreed to accept the bell collection in exchange for maintaining Virginia's house and yard and waiving her monthly water bill for the remainder of her life. It also agreed to keep the collection intact, and if for any reason the city is no longer able to maintain the collection, the bells will be given to the state.

I happened to stop by a couple of weeks ago while the collection was being moved. Volunteers were carefully packing the bells for transport to the old (and long idle) movie theater just off the square. Shelves and cabinets are being constructed to display the bells, which some say is worth close to $300,000. Virginia talks of attending the opening in a new dress and with a new hair-do.

When I went by last week, she was looking over a small collection of bells someone had sent her after reading about her in Holding On. She showed me one beautiful brass bell whose handle depicts a Medieval pilgrim on horseback, above the legend "Chaucer." "He was an English poet," I helpfully supplied.

"Yes, I know," Virginia came back. "Whanne that Aprille with his shoures sote / The droghte of Marche hath perced to the rote," she added.

What a lady!

Stephen Housewright
March 26, 2001

This piece is available in the following audio formats [4:07 min]:
		28.8 kbps Real Audio
		56 kbps Real Audio
		ISDN Real Audio

		intro
		transcript

		Holding On, a book with an oral history based on this documentary
		Update on the Brewer Bell Museum [posted 4/13/01]

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