LEWISTON — After its annual meeting in January, the Androscoggin County Chamber of Commerce realized its ceremonial bell had gone missing, the same golden bell that Chamber President Chip Morrison’s mom had used to call him home for dinner decades before.

Morrison put out an all-points-bulletin, feeling a little bleak at the prospect of its recovery. Surely the bell was in the trash or misplaced at the bottom of a forgotten box.

Ramada Inn staff alerted him late last week that they’d found it.

Man and bell will be reunited Tuesday.

“They redoubled their efforts and it was at the bottom of one of their decorative trees, where it could have rested for a long, long time I have a feeling,” Morrison said. “My reaction was ‘wow.'”

It’s coming home just in time to ring in the chamber’s monthly breakfast Thursday.

Morrison said he didn’t anticipate any extra precautions going forward, except, “I think we’ll probably have it on our mental checklist to make sure we put it back in our bag before we leave events.”

kskelton@sunjournal.com