Carillon Lady: Mrs. Edith Walton Deeds

Courtesy of Misti Spillman, Manager, Preservation and Community Outreach Woodland Cemetery & Arboretum. Living here in Warren County, we are fortunate to be between the two larger cities of Dayton and Cincinnati. This allows us to not only share in both of these city's accomplishments, but in their residents. And, believe it or not, one way of learning about these people can often be found in historical cemeteries. Dayton, Ohio's Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum, which is one of the oldest garden cemeteries in the United States, is filled with history. And, this November the WarrenCountyPost.com has been given the privilege to publish a piece from Woodland Cemetery and Arboretum about Mrs. Edith Walton Deeds and the carillon at Carillon Park.

While the carillon of ‘Carillon Park’ is generally recognized as her greatest material gift to Dayton, visitors may not realize that Mrs. Edith Walton Deeds was an accomplished musician herself.

Edith’s father, Samuel Walton, had encouraged her gift by enrolling her in piano lessons at an early age. Later on, Edith attended Earlham College in Richmond, IN where she studied music, painting, and languages.

Even when she wasn’t the one performing, Edith deeply loved music. For many years Mrs. Deeds served as sponsor and contributor to a number of local music organizations—including Dayton’s first ever Boys’ Harmonica Orchestra.

According to Edith, “It [was] better for the boys to play the harmonica at home than to stand idly around the Dayton street corners.” At least with the harmonicas, you’d always know where the boys were.

The idea to bring a carillon to Dayton came to Mrs. Deeds while she and the Colonel were travelling in Belgium. As Edith was listening to the chimes in one of the belfries, she began to dream of bringing such an instrument to Dayton. Edith explained, “In no other way can simple inspiring music be spread among an entire populace.”

Edith would remain personally involved in the tower’s design, as well as many details of its construction. The final result was a tower reaching 151 feet into the sky, fashioned of granite, steel and Indiana limestone. It shelters a cluster of 57 bells—some of which are small and silent, representing members of the Deeds family that had passed away before the tower was built, including Edith’s mother and father. It was one of only six carillons in the country; and one of the tallest.

Once the project was finished, Edith was the first to play the bells, choosing a hymn called “the Doxology” for the carillon’s dedication ceremony on August 23, 1942.

Edith Walton Deeds died at the age of 79 on February 9th, 1949. Four days later, on February 12th, a symphony of bells tolled for the gracious lady who had shared her love for music with an entire city.

As the funeral procession passed by, the carillon bells rang “Lead Kindly Light”; one of Mrs. Deeds’ favorite hymns—played by Robert E. Kline, Mrs. Deeds’ favorite carillonneur. As the procession made its way to Woodland Cemetery and the bells faded into the distance, they seemed to say, “Farewell, dear friend – to thy memory never.”

Edith Walton Deeds and her family are located in the Deeds Mausoleum in Section 121 Lot 2 at Woodland Cemetery.

Picture: Portrait of Edith Walton Deeds, undated. Courtesy of Centerville-Washington History center.

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