CARIBOU, Maine — Caribou’s Knights of Columbus, a philanthropic Catholic organization, celebrated their 100th anniversary last weekend.
Members of the group convened on April 29th for a special Mass of acknowledgement at the Parish of the Precious Blood Holy Rosary Church in Caribou at 4 p.m., subsequently meeting at the Knights of Columbus Hall roughly an hour later.
Founded on April 26, 1917, the fraternal group has served Caribou for over a century. In addition to celebrating the centennial, last Sunday’s event marked 44 years since the local Knights of Columbus 1870 changed their name to the Fred V. Brescia Council 1870.
Fred’s son Stan, along with over 100 guests, attended the Saturday event in which two cakes were made by Farms Bakery in Caribou to honor the anniversaries.
The Knights of Columbus Hall on the Washburn Road was built for no cost by Fred’s company, Brescia Construction, in 1968, Stan said.
“He (Fred) was the kind of man that always worked from sun-up to sun-down, and always had a brand new car, but he would take care of the people on the streets,” Stan said. “If anyone needed help, he’d help them.”
Stan shared an anecdote about his childhood, in which his father would buy fish on his way home from work.
“He’d get the fish home and my mother would throw them in the garbage because she knew they came from the pipe at the end of the river,” Stan said. “That’s the type of person he was though. He’d come home with no socks on. I remember Mom asking where his socks were; he’d given them to someone who was cold.”
Born at the “airport market” in Caribou, Stan had never been able to join the Caribou Knights until last summer due to downstate obligations.
Grand Knight Bill Belanger, who joined over two decades ago, said the Fred V. Brescia Council is “150 members strong.
“Altogether, Knights of Columbus gave over $12 million to Christian refugee efforts in 2014,” Belanger said. “Locally, we do senior citizens banquets, give out at least three college scholarships per year, and help the church with things such as fuel assistance. We support local charities like the Boy Scouts, Right to Life, and senior citizens organizations.”
Belanger added that he is going to retire this year and pass the torch to Todd Collins. As a Grand Knight, Belanger said he and Deputy Gil Masse take care of the Knights’ day-to-day activities, from paperwork to managing the hall.
“As far back as I can remember, my family has always been involved with Knights of Columbus,” Belanger said. “My dad was a knight and all my brothers were knights.”
Belanger said the Caribou branch changed their name to the Fred V. Brescia Council to “honor all of the work he’d done,” and his company’s construction of the new hall.
“Dad had a stroke in 1958, and this building was built shortly after,” Stan said. “I was just a little kid when my dad sat paralyzed in his chair. The week before he died, he made a point to be able to walk. So he practiced on a set of parallel bars over and over again, and was able to do it at the end of the week, just before he died. He walked to heaven.”
Beans, salad, finger sandwiches, and two cakes (baked by Farms Bakery in Caribou) were available during the Caribou Knight’s of Columbus’ 100th anniversary celebration on Saturday, April 29. (Christopher Bouchard)
