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More about the loss of St. Bernard’s Church

I had the privilege of working with the best and the brightest for 23 years at the Adirondack Daily Enterprise and my friend and colleague Jerome Ripley “Rip” Allen was at the top of the list … along with Evelyn Outcalt, Fran Dickie, Bill McLaughlin, Peter Cox, Harry Nason and publishers Jim Loeb and Roger Tubby [former press secretary to President Harry Truman] … to name a few.

This is a brief recollection from a long story about how the Allen’s landed in Saranac Lake … Rip and his late wife Heidi, were serving with the Peace Corps in Guinea. They met Ambassador Jim Loeb when they attended a reception for the Ambassador who was leaving that post, as Rip and Heidi were also ending their service with the Peace Corps. Ambassador Loeb after inquiring about their future plans convinced them to move to Saranac Lake. Lucky for us.

Rip’s daughter, Shamim, with her husband Craig, own and operate the classy Fiddlehead Bistro at the bridge on Broadway.

A church in ruins … the morning after

By RIP ALLEN

“Two pigeons cut in from the northeast against a sharp blue sky this morning, came to an accustomed landing on the grey stone sill at the entrance to their belfry home, strutted between whisps of smoke, then flew away.

“Inside St. Bernard’s bell tower, the fire continues to burn, now so high up that water from the single one-and-a-half-inch hose propped up between two trees now turned to ice, cannot reach it. Near the back of the church, one other hose is still in action pumping water into the boiler room under the choir boys’ sacristy.

“But there are only a couple of fireman standing watch now, and the main order of business has shifted to securing the desiccated area from curiosity seekers — locking the doors at the back, keeping watch at the front. St. Bernard’s this morning is a dangerous shell.

“Behind the stone facade bearded with icicles but otherwise looking little the worse for wear, almost everything is in ruin. Except for portions of the vestibule and the sacristy area in the back, the whole of the inner church is gone and there remains only a mass of undifferentiated rubble in the basement.

“The vestibule is out of bounds to everyone. Those bits of floor which are left have badly buckled, and the unshattered but twisted glass of a book case testifies to the inferno that blazed on the other side of the inner wall.

“The only access to the building is through the priests’ sacristy on the west side on the back. Here still stands a little altar, but you can see through a door to the main altar area and the huge marble block is no longer there.

“Nothing but the skeleton of the body of the church remains – half a dozen huge iron crossbeams which used to support the floor, and overhead the ridge pole of the roof outlined against the sky. Lower sections of the roof still cling to the walls.

“Looking down from the sacristy, it is impossible to discern any recognizable object in the ice-coated, charred and crushed ruins. Perhaps something will eventually be found beneath a layer of fallen roof and floor material.

“The rectory adjoining the sacristy remains virtually unscathed. A weak smell of smoke permeates its rooms but nothing approaching smoke damage.

“And facing theplayground at the rear, the little shrine to Our Lady of Fatima has hardly been touched, except that the stone child kneeling before Our Lady holds a charred piece of wood in her outstretched arms, probably fallen from the roof.”

‘A building is building but …’

By HOWARD RILEY

“Mrs. Sheila Morgan, standing on the steps at Keough’s at the height of the fire last night said; ‘A building is a building, but your church is something else. I’ve had eleven babies baptized there.’

“This about summed up the feeling of most residents of Saranac Lake where the population is about 6,200 and 4,600 are Catholics.

“Keough’s Funeral Chapel was immediately set up as headquarters for food, warmth and information. Both Keough phones were kept busy by reporters, firemen and incoming calls from worried citizens. The entire Keough family and business staff performed a hundred different services throughout the night. “Coffee, food, and other refreshments were supplied in a steady flow from Tyson’s, the Dew Drop Inn, Paul Smith’s College’s Hotel Saranac, Charlie and Betty Sayles, The Sisters of Mercy, the Red Cross, Newberry’s, (which also donated boxes of new gloves) and the Grand Union.

“The conversation in small groups turned to the history of St. Bernard’s and no one could come up with the name of the Italian who set the altar stone. He was called Jim and he later worked at Ryan’s greenhouse [then located at the corner of Ampersand Avenue and Broadway] and everyone remembered him but not his name. This morning, however, it was learned he was Faravonti Saroni who came to this country to set the three altars at St. Bernard’s and never left.

“A dozen names were mentioned for the contractors and masons. Most believed it was Barney McCormick, ancestor of the well-known McCormick masons still carrying on that trade.

“Of course, conversation turned to the last one buried from the church; Emmy Bernard; the first one baptized, Gene Keough; the first couple married, Mr. and Mrs. Henry Leis, on Thanksgiving Day, 1911 and the last couple married on Wednesday, Nov. 29, Emmett and Eunice Cross.

“Msgr. Noel Zimmerman had taken a plane to Ann Harbor, Michigan, spent the day and returned home at 5:30. Many parishioners gathered around the Monsignor, not really knowing what to say, but all expressing help and sympathy.

“He entered Ellis Hospital in Schnectady today for an ear operation [he always wore hearing aids], previously scheduled and considered major surgery.

“The Associated Press called an Enterprise staffer and said they had gotten a tip from Syracuse that our Catholic Church was burning. They were given the story which was carried on both the night and day wire.”

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