Iowa State University Alumni Association| online edition | spring 1999

SPRING 1999
Home

Cover Story:
>>The Bells of Iowa State

• The Stanton Legacy
• 100 years ago: The beginning
• Timeline
• The story of the bells of Iowa State
• The dissonance debate
• The Bell Players
• Traditions
• Missing a beat
• The bells heard round the world

Feature:
Driving Dr. Carver

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THE BELLS OF IOWA STATE
CELEBRATING A CENTURY: 1899-1999

The bells heard round the world

"Keep the bells ringing."

In the late 1980s and early 1990s, former ISU students Thomas Sutherland, ’56, and Terry Anderson were Lebanese hostages. Iowa State and the nation kept a vigil over the men, as their years in captivity grew. Every year on the anniversary of their kidnapping, the Campanile bells tolled.

On Nov. 18, 1991, six years after he had been taken hostage, Sutherland was released. During the first press conference after his release, Sutherland told the world, “I was very, very moved when I heard on Voice of America a recording of the bells of Iowa State, which I particularly appreciated hearing when I was a student there on campus.”

“So when I heard them ring out 72 bells on the occasion of my 72nd month in captivity, I was extremely happy. So to Iowa State, I would say, ‘Keep the bells ringing.’”

About the Writer | Karol Crosbie is the former associate editor of VISIONS magazine.