Looking for David Workman info

[Laurie Austin]

Hi there! 

Bell history nerd question: Please, does anyone have information they would like to share about David Workman, who was a Kansas City manufacturer of bells from about 1954 to 1963? I'm looking for people who may have known him, examples of his bells, or archival materials related to him and his bell escapades. I've done a lot of online newspaper research about him; I'm hoping I can find other archival info in the files of various churches who may have purchased his bells, or promotional materials about his bells, or any other things related to the various kinds of bells produced by David Workman, sometimes called Bells of David. 

Here's what I know so far: he moved to KC in the 1950s after performing with his wife Dottie for a while in what appears to be a kind of Vaudeville type act. He had at least two daughters. He was a multi-instrumentalist who also played trumpet and trombone with a touring blues(?) band. He had multiple sets of bells and when he settled in KC, he worked for KU Extension and toured all around the region doing concerts at school assemblies and the like. When his bells broke and there was no one available domestically who could replace them, he decided to start making his own bells. I can't tell when he stopped performing. I found a reference by Florence Marlow in a letter written in 1987 that he had died a few years earlier and that she had last seen him in Eureka Springs, Arkansas. I do not know where he was from before KC, and I don't know when he left KC.

I'm the Area 8 Historian, which covers Kansas City, and I'm trying my best to exhaust my leads before I write an article about him. Thank you for your assistance!

Laurie Austin

Independence, MO

Area 8 Historian