Centennial Council 8008

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A History of Council 8008

The idea of forming an English speaking council in Beacon Hill came from two people working together in the latter months of 1981. They were the then District Deputy of District 42 Gaston Tremblay, and the then Grand Knight of St. Gabriel’s Council 6740, Gaston Vinette. Primarily, they started looking for some people who might be good Knights of Columbus members who could assist them to form a Council. Two English speaking parishioners of St. Gabriel Parish were approached and asked if they would like to join the Knights of Columbus and assist the District Deputy in his quest to form an English Council, which they did.

During the month of January 1982, Gaston Tremblay spoke at the English Masses inviting men who were interested to attend an information meeting held in a class room of the local schools. There were sufficient numbers of men in attendance to warrant a steering committee to be formed. This was chaired by George Neilson and co-chaired by Richard Hearn with four or five other men who were Knights assisting.

During the following month, the steering committee went on a recruiting drive and enticed over 35 men to sign up, or renew their membership. On the evening of 28th of March 1982, a First Degree was held in the basement of St. Gabriel’s Parish Church, which resulted in having sufficient members to form a Council. On completion of the Degree, it was agreed by the membership that for the remaining months of the Columbian Year, the Executive positions would be filled by the following:


Grand Knight

George Neilson



Deputy Grand Knight

Roichard Hearn



Chancellor

John Ryan



Financial Secretary

Gary MacMillan



Warden

William Leverington


The Council was named Centennial Council in view that our Council was formed on the 100th anniversary of the formation of the Knights of Columbus. As the allocation of Council numbers was close to 8000, a request to Supreme was made to allocate 8000 to our Council. However, many other new Councils were being formed and our Council was allocated the number 8008. Years later, it was learned that the first Council on the Island of Dominican Republic was provided with the honour of being called Council 8000.

Information provided by Sir Knight William (Bill) Leverington, FDD, PGK

A Council Charter was granted to Centennial Council No. 8008 on the 29th of March, 1982
by the Supreme Council of The Knights of Columbus

The Charter Members listed were:

C. Barnett E.L. Bebee G.E. Blinn W.J. Bloom
P.H. Bourassa P.J. Campbell L.A. Clarkin K. Clement
C.J. Costisella G.J. Coulombe Y.P. Cote J.C. Crisante
M.L. Fortier G.P. Gaudet J-P Gobeil R.J. Hearn
R.H. Hicks A.J. Houlahan K.J. Hughes J.J. Jollineau
R.J.J. Langlois Fr. G. Lavergne W.O. Leverington B.M. Loma
J.D. MacDonell G.J. MacMillan J.C. McIsaac D.H. McKenna
J.P. McKinley F.D. Montreuil W.W. Morris B.P. Murphy
G.A. Neilson M.J. O'Connor P.P. Pyefinch J.L. Ryan
W.B. Smith R.A. Thompson R.P. Vaive J.J. Wieczorek










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