Stetson University broke ground Monday on its reconstruction of historic Hulley Tower , which for 71 years stood as a landmark on the DeLand campus.
Its bells chimed to start and end each day, call students to worship, welcome freshmen and celebrate the annual yule log lighting. It tolled, too, after one of the school's most tragic events, an avalanche that killed three Stetson students and buried others visiting Austria in Structural decay and the active hurricane season of took their toll, as well, and in , the tower was dismantled down to the base, a mausoleum for Stetson's second president, Lincoln Hulley and his wife Eloise.
While there was immediate talk of fundraising to rebuild the tower, the drive to get it done has only built steam in more recent years, led by some of the survivors of the tragedy and their desire to commemorate the fallen students.
The rebuilt tower, expected to take about nine months to complete, will feature 52 carillon bells, three of which will be dedicated to William Fenlon, Dennis Long and Katherine "Katy" Resnik, who were unable to free themselves from snow that had collapsed from Mount Seegrube near Innsbruck on Jan. Eight other students survived. In the minute Stetson documentary "Remembering Innsbruck: The Story of the Innsbruck Avalanche," directed by graduate Brendan Jackson Rogers, Jinks and other students described how they linked the idea for the memorial with the rebuilding of Hulley Tower.
It's the ruins of Hulley Tower," she said. Her classmate Susan Perry Brockaway, said its presence is not recognizable from when it soared above the campus while she was at Stetson. Following the avalanche, while surviving Stetson students remained in Innsbruck, Jinks said one of her strong memories was bells chiming from the valley below the mountain.
