A Knights Tale…

            Saint Luke’s Council #5257 was chartered on 3/29/1962. The organizing District Deputy was George Bellin Sr. (He lived in Waldwick) The organizing committee was John Deleeuw, Bill Voss, and Joe DeFlora. We met with Monsignor Duffy (Pastor of Saint Luke’s at the time) along with State Council and Monsignor Duffy it was agreed to organize our Council. Our initial meeting took place in the Saint Luke’s School auditorium. George ran the first few meetings to present what the Knights of Columbus are all about. There were over a hundred men at these meetings. As you must know the discussions took place around the four principles of our order Charity, Unity, Fraternity, and Patriotism.

            At the third meeting we held the election of officers. Once we were sworn in we formed committees and defined the goals of our Council. Included in these committees was the By-Laws committee that would establish the rules by which we would function. George guided these initial committees under the programs set by the State and National Councils. They were called the Six Point Programs. These were designed to support the four principles mentioned earlier. One of the programs was called the Century Club. To attain this you had to bring in 100 members each year. We did attain this the first couple of years. When you completed these requirements under these programs you were awarded the Star Council. This was accomplished several times in our infancy. We ran many activities in those days and where very successful.  The highlight of these was the dinner dance called “The knights of the Round Table”. We would convert the gym of the of Saint Luke’s into whatever theme we had for that year.

            One day George Bellin, Cy Miccelline and myself were driving on Prospect Street and we noticed that the Protestant Church had burned. We decided to look into the possibility of buying the building. It was discussed with the members and we agreed to pursue the purchase. The biggest obstacle was our lack of money. After the meeting, one of the members named JJ Cohen said to me “ My father would like to speak to you.” I told him to bring his father and we could talk. He said his father couldn’t come he was bedridden and he was also Jewish. One night we went to visit Charlie Cohen at home. After a few minutes of general discussion he handed me a blank check and said, “Here, take as much as you need to buy your building”. We borrowed $2000.00 for the down payment. We then set up a program to issue bonds to members to finance the purchase of the building. The building was purchased on March 8, 1963. We then put a plan together to restore the part of the building that burned. This is the part known as the bar/lounge. The members of the Council did all the work. It was decided that we would name the restored area “The Charlie Cohen Lounge”. A Mass preceded the dedication of the building in the morning and a ceremony in the afternoon. Clergy, state and town officials, council members and their families attended it.

                                                              Joe DeFlora

                                                              First Grand Knight Council 5257