Beeville KCs celebrate 100 years

St. Joseph Parish Knights of Columbus Council No. 1653 in Beeville was organized in 1912 with 52 charter members. The Knights will celebrate their centennial on Friday, June 1 with a Mass celebrated by Bishop Wm. Michael Mulvey at 6 p.m. followed by a reception and dinner at the Beeville Community Center, located at 111 E. Corpus Christ Street in Beeville.

R. W. “Whizzy” Barry, who at that time was news editor of the Beeville Bee, was selected as the first Grand Knight. Other charter members included R. W. Barry, Edmund Burke, Peter J. Burke, Joseph F. Burke, Richard Carroll, John A. Carvel, Thomas H. Clare, George Grover, Robert L. Harrison, Emil Henke, John W. Leahy, Hilary F. Rush, Sam H. Smith, William C. Stephenson, Benjamin Dudley Tarlton, Guy E. Teal, Harry W. Zowarka, H. W. Klein, Mark Gregory, Benjamin Gregory, Amos W. Mussett, Thomas P. Tucker, Ray J. Welder, Joseph B. Kemp, Charles H. Kring, T. J. Buckley Jr., John Burke, Jerry Corrigan, J. E. Dolan, William Francis Dolan, Francis X. Dougherty, J. F. Dunn, John H. Wood, Jim Francis Goodwin Jr., P. T. Goodwin, Mark Jefferson Gregory, A. E. Kellmann, John Cornelius Murphy, G. J. Kutchler, David Charles Odem, H. E. Odem, J. F. Odem, George O'Neill, Desmond T. Pereira, C. P. Rachal, Father John H. Scheid, Owen Joseph Sheeran, R. J. Smith, William Thomas Thompson and J. C. Wood.

The Knights are a fraternal benefit society for Catholic men founded in 1882 in New Haven, Connecticut, 20 years before the St. Joseph council was organized. It was incorporated, “for the purpose of developing a practical Catholicity among its members, of promoting Catholic education and charity, and of furnishing at least temporary financial aid to the families of deceased members, by means of its insurance department.”

The Knights have grown from several members in one council to more than 14,000 councils and 1.8 million members throughout the United States, Canada, the Philippines, Mexico, Poland, the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico, Panama, the Bahamas, the Virgin Islands, Cuba, Guatemala, Guam and Saipan.

The present officers of the Council 1653 are P. F. Malek, Grand Knight; Frank Smeikal, Deputy Grand Knight; Rudy Foitik, Recorder; Hugh Brice, Treasurer; H. H. Laechelin Jr., Lecturer; George Bernsen, Advocate; Rudolf Mueller, Warden; Joe Olsen, Outside Guardian; Herbert Pivonka, Inside Guardian; Father Charles McNaboe, Chaplain; Robert Simnacher, Financial Secretary; and Gus Smeikal, John Hersek and Ed Kossa, Trustees.

Three members of Council 1653 have served as District Deputy Grand Knights; they are W. O. McCurdy, Frank Smeikal and Kossa.