Gee, whiz, I must have forgotten the writer’s rule that says something like — “It is wrong to use the same word multiple times within a paragraph and definitely within the same sentence.”

Well, what more can I say? The last two or three columns have hit home because of the local touch.

For instance, Karen McLaughlin wrote to me with additional history of the St. Regis Hotel after I published a piece of her actual letter in the column. She told me that she got so excited when she saw her letter she considered having a pace-maker installed.

Karen, whose parents I knew, now lives in Tupper Lake.

Ladies Night at the Elks Club in Saranac Lake — Can you find your grandmother in the picture? (Photo provided)

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Knights of Columbus – 1901 – 1951

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The Saranac Lake Knights of Columbus in 1951 were celebrating their 50th Anniversary and honoring the Past Grand Knights with a dinner/dance at the Elks Club. The date was March 31, 1951.

I used to love seeing the Knights at Mass dressed in their fancy uniforms, plumed hats and swords. I especially remember Joseph [Shorty] McCormick who never missed an event when he served in the Knights … other Sundays he was one of the ushers and took up the collection.

Elks Club, Saranac Lake, at the corner of Bloomingdale Avenue and Church Street, circa 1993 (Photo provided)

All Past Grand Knights were listed in the program. The first was John C. Russell. M.D. who served in 1901-02. He was Gene Walsh’s [Gene was on Johnny Carson’s staff and a SLHS grad] grandfather whose home was on Olive Street now the law offices of Charles Nicastro.

The other Grand Knights honored:

J.P. Hanley, C.J. Carey, Joseph J. O’Connell, G.H. Foy, J.J. Connors, William McKillip, Thomas Butler, Thomas Daley, R.E. Malloy, Charles H. Goldsmith, John W. Morgan, Charles Neubauer, Charles Pandolph, Walter Duffy, John E. Keough, John McClean, Daniel B. Dwyer, Bernard Carlin, Matt M. Munn, Timothy J. O’Hara. W. Leo Buckley, Philip J. Collins, Nelson P. DeLisle, Leo Commo, Edward F. Mulflur, Paul Stephen, Francis Walters, George W. Finnegan, Harry E. Sullivan, Thomas A. Daley and Joseph D. Hanning.

Here is the committee who put it all together:

Joseph L. Vuzzi, Dr. Leonard J. Bristol, Dr. George J. Digman, Joseph M. Catalano, Joseph D. Hanning, John C. Clancy, Andrew J. Fortune, Arthur A. Fortune, Eugene P. Keough, James V. Procopio and Charles J. Cogan.

The program:

Toastmaster; Lawrence P. Quinn, D.D.; Guests: Rev. Msgr. James R. McClure, V.F., Rev. Peter Ward, and Rev, Vernon L. Doe. Speakers: Rev. Henry M. Fadden, Roy Lavoy, P.D.D., Joseph W. Sparks, P.D.D., Vincent Kavenaugh, G.K., Tupper lake Council; William Dougherty, G.K., Lake Placid Council and Joseph Donovan, Master 4th.

The officers in 1950-51, other than names already mentioned were:

Grand Knight, Leo Jette, Alex Hammond, Hoerner E. Trombley, Clifford W. McCormick and Edward Girard.