After raising approximately $80,000 in private and town funding, Ray Andrews and town and school officials celebrated the rededication of the Center School clock on Saturday.

From start to finish, Andrews was the driving force behind the renovation of the 1898 Seth Thomas clock.

A former student at the school, Andrews said custodian Bronc Caswell often asked sixth graders to help him wind the clock.

“It would get you out of class for 15 minutes or a half hour so it was great. That’s when I fell in love with the clock and I never lost that love for it,” said Andrews.

Center School alumni and school and town officials gathered in the music room adjacent to the clock for the ceremony.

The Selectmen, who appointed Andrews as the Clock Keeper in November, presented him with a plaque and thanked him for his “timeless and selfless devotion.”

“I don’t think I’ve seen anyone more passionate than Ray when it comes to anything,” said Selectmen Chair Jordan Collyer. “Any project he’s ever taken on in town he’s followed through right to the end.”

The clock was repaired and installed by Balzer Family Clock Works of Maine earlier this summer. To protect it from the elements and allow it to be seen by the public, the mechanisms were moved inside and encased in glass.

Even though the clock project is completed, Andrews has some unfinished business. Besides regularly oiling the clock and adjusting it for accuracy, Andrews is looking for an apprentice.

Andrews is also hoping to complete a wall of class photos from 1921 to 1961 when the school was a junior high.