Gene Gladd is at the left with his brother Little Joe. It was a nice surprise to see that Billy Allen (another SLHS hockey player) snapped the picture in 1989. (Provided photo)

Oh, shucks. I promised myself that there wouldn’t be any corny remarks about the subject of this week’s column and I hauled right off and did it in the title.

But wait until you read about the large footprint the Gladd family made in the village of Saranac Lake.

This is a background piece leading to a longer story by my colleague, Enterprise ace reporter, Aaron Marbone.

John Morgan, one of the best PR guys in the North Country, recently introduced me to Chris Gladd English. Chris owns the Adirondack Store in Lake Placid. Then we took a ride to visit his Tupper Lake (replica) Adirondack Store (formerly Ginsberg’s). There is an entrance being erected through a wall of the Tupper Lake store leading into the adjacent building, which Chris also owns, and where the former Well Dressed Foods restaurant was located. We used to love to eat there.

Chris’ grandparents were Mr. and Mrs. Monroe Gladd of Saranac Lake. His mother was Betty Gladd, one of eight children of that union, including Dorothy, Gene, Pete, George, Bill, Joe and Moe.

Growing up here, one would have to be a hermit if there was not a relationship with at least half a dozen of the Gladd clan.

Little Joe’s Restaurant and Bar on Main Street was popular with the downtown business people for lunch. Also very popular for the rest of us to occasionally, or maybe even more often, have a few beers.

Joe pretty much worked the day shift and his brother Gene the night shift. Joe was hilarious with his pranks and Gene was a more reserved but friendly guy with a perpetual smile.

Of course, Gene and his beautiful wife Joan Kelly Gladd had their hands full with seven children. Joan was a dear friend of my sister, Marguerite. Her brother was with New York State Police.

Their son Joe played hockey with our son Keefe on the Saranac Lake High School team and again were teammates on the Plattsburgh University championship hockey teams.

Of course, I was friends with former fire chief Francis (Frenchy) Gladd, Pete and Bill. Now, Mary Gladd mans the front desk at The Enterperise.

I am trying to tip-toe through the tulips, avoiding all the good stuff about the Gladds’ that is going to be published in the Marbone coverage. But I have to add these excerpts from a feature story about Chris carried in a Connecticut newspaper.

Chris the card collector

A brief excerpt from the Journal/Inquirer by Eva Fellows:

“If Chris English ever travels around the world, he’ll know who to call.

“That’s because the 18-year-old high school senior has collected more than 7,400 business cards from 22 different countries — a collection that includes the cards of such luminaries as former President Jimmy Carter, comedian Bob Hope, actor James Garner of television’s ‘Rockford Files’, to name just a few.

“English, who acquires an average of five cards a day, says his goal is to be listed in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the largest collection in the world.

“English says his obsession with collecting business cards stems from his childhood love of collecting, and organizing, everything he owned.

“‘When I was a little kid, I collected everything from shells to stamps to Snoopy books,’ he said.

“But his decision to start a ‘serious’ collection came when an acquaintance discovered a lottery conducted regularly by a hotel in Newport, R.I. Each month the hotel would select a winner from the calling cards its customers would leave in a jar at the check-in desk.

“The cards in each lottery are eventually mailed to English’s Queen Street home. English also exchanges duplicates with a collector in California — a move that has broadened his collection considerably. Some of the best sources are fairs and automotive, camping and garden shows, he says.”