(date penned in: Feb. 19, 1973)

Alexandria Bay -- Mrs. Evelyn D. Wharton, 59, died Monday at her home at Fine View, Wellesley Island.,

The funeral will be Friday at 11 a.m. at the Fine View United Methodist church. Burial will be in Highland Park Cemetery.

Friends may call at the Giltz Funeral Home Thursday from 2 to 4 p.m. and 7 to 9 p.m. Donations may be made to the Cancer Society.

Surviving are a son, Charles Barber of West Hurley; a daughter, Mrs. Gordon (Patricia) Brownlee, Fennville, Mich.; a sister, Mrs. Charles (Armeda) Woodruff, Syracuse; a brother, Dr. Max Knapp, Martha’s Vineyard, Mass.; five grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.

She was born July 8, 1913, at Herkimer, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Otto Ertmann.

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Unidentified newsclipping - June 21 - 1948
Jefferson County, N. Y.

E. S. WRIGHT, SR.,
REDWOOD, DIES

Former Hotel Operator Dies
After Heart Attack -- Rites
Wednesday.

Redwood, June 21. -- Edmund Stuart Wright, sr., 52, business man of this village for the past 30 years died suddenly at his home on Main street, Monday evening at 6 after an illness of three days. Mr. Wright was stricken ill while in Watertown on Friday, and when he arrived at his home was compelled to go to bed. His condition became worse and on Sunday morning he was placed in an oxygen tent and remained there until his death Monday. A heart condition was the cause of death.

Mr. Wright is survived by his widow, Eva-Ellen Wright, two daughters, Mrs. Kenneth (Mary Louise) Nelson, Redwood, and Miss Georgine Wright, student nurse at the Mercy hospital, Watertown; two sons, Edmund S. Wright, jr., and John William Wright, at home; his parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wallace E. Wright, of Redwood; cousins Mr. and Mrs. Harold Berlin of Scarsdale, Mr. and Mrs. C. Edgar Storey, Butterfield Lake summer colony and Redwood, and an uncle, Harry E. Wright, of Manheim, Pa.

Funeral services will be held Wednesday afternoon at 2 with prayer services at his home followed by services in the Redwood Methodist church at 2:15. Rev. Lisle Caldwell, pastor of the Alexandria Bay and Redwood Methodist churches, will officiate. Friends who will act as pall bearers will be Russell Crawford, Benton Cook, Herschel Kabel, Leonard J. Hermann, Clark Honeywell, Horace Greene, of Redwood. Burial will be made in the Redwood cemetery, where a Masonic service will be held.

Mr. Wright was born Oct. 2, 1896, son of Georgiene Thompson Anderson and Wallace Edmund Wright in Mount Vernon. He was educated in the Bronxville and Mount Vernon schools having graduated from Mount Vernon High school.

With his parents he came to the St. Lawrence river region and the Butterfield Lake to spend the summer months, coming the first time at the age of 2. In 1918 Mr. and Mrs. Wright with their son came north to reside and operated a summer cottage colony known as the Wal-Gene camps on Butterfield Lake. Continuing the operation of the Wal-Gene camps, Mr. Wright, assisted by his son, took over what was known as the Dyer hotel, Main street, Redwood, in 1919, renaming the establishment the Wal-Gene inn. Here Mr. and Mrs. Wright operated the hotel and their son opened a tobacco and confection store-newsstand and a billiard room, remaining at this location, until about 1927.

In 1927, when Wal-Gene inn was discontinued, Edmund S. Wright, sr., took over a similar store and business which had been operated by Richard Gates, sr., in the Dollinger hotel. When the wing of the hotel that housed this business was destroyed by fire in 1931, Mr. Wright, sr., leased the old Redwood Glass factory company store and continued there for several years before he purchased a building on the Main street from the W. W. Holmes estate. The building was a part of the Holmes feed mill and back in the glass factory days was used as the cutting room. The building was remodeled, a modern service station added and a residence added for Mr. Wright and his family. At this address Mr. Wright resided until his death.

Mr. Wright recently had been awarded a certificate of recognition for having been one of the oldest Gulf gas dealers in Jefferson county. Since 1919 Mr. Wright has been a news dealer, having the agency for the Watertown Daily Times.

On June 1, 1921, Mr. Wright married Eva-Ellen Black, daughter of the late George Howard and Eve-Ellen Betterley of New Orleans, La. The ceremony was performed at the home of the late Mr. and Mrs. Hyland Hart, Church street, Redwood, uncle and aunt of Mrs. Wright. Rev. Ernest Bragg, pastor of the Redwood Methodist church, performed the ceremony.

Mr. Wright was a member of the Redwood Methodist church, the Redwood volunteer fire department, of which he was secretary; active member of Redwood Parent-Teachers association, served as clerk on the Redwood board of elections, and was a member of the Alexandria lodge of Masons.

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Redwood, Oct. 31. -- Mrs. Walpurga Elk Weldon, 63, widow of Cornelius Weldon, died Sunday evening at her home about five miles from this village. Death was caused by a heart ailment.

She was born in Witenberg, Germany, April 7, 1875, a daughter of Ferdinand and Anna Elk. When she was twelve years old she moved to this country and settled in this vicinity. On Feb. 7, 1893, she was married to Cornelius Weldon in Evans Mills.

Mrs. Weldon and her husband were engaged in cheese making here until 26 years ago when they purchased a home in the town of Theresa where they had since resided. Mr. Weldon died in November, 1924. Mrs. Weldon was a member of the St. Paul’s Lutheran church.

Surviving are two sons, William and Carl Weldon of Redwood and a daughter, Mrs. Oscar (Edna) Eggleston of Theresa.

Funeral services will be held from the home Wednesday afternoon at 2. Rev. Richard Henderson, pastor of the St. Paul’s Lutheran church, will officiate. Burial will be in Redwood cemetery.

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(date penned in: May 21, 1994)

Alexandria Bay -- The funeral mass for Gloria Walentuk, 66, of 60 Church Street, Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year and past president, will be at 2 p.m. Wednesday, May 25 at St. Cyril’s Church with the Rev. Thomas Driscoll, pastor, officiating. Burial will be in St. Cyril’s Cemetery.

Mrs. Walentuk died May 21 at St. Joseph’s Hospital, Cheektowaga. She had been in that area judging a figure skating competition.

Contributions may be made to the Alexandria Bay Fire Department, Gloria Walentuk River Blade Scholarship Fund or the Alexandria Bay Figure Skating Club.

Surviving are her husband, Edward J.; three sons, Paul, Winston-Salem, N. C., Joel, and Michael, both of Alexandria Bay; and four daughters, Mrs. Thomas (Martha) Ivey, Clayton, Susan Merrihew, and Mrs. James (Mary) Cummings, both of Alexandria Bay, and Mrs. Lance (Joan) Travis, Newbury, Mass.; and eight grandchildren.

Born Jan. 19, 1928, in Watertown, a daughter of Samuel and Mary Hickey Guerrieri, she graduated as valedictorian of Alexandria Bay High School in 1945, and earned her bachelor’s degree from Syracuse University in 1951. She attended graduate courses at Potsdam State University College.

She married Edward James Walentuk, of Syracuse, June 9, 1951, in St. Cyril’s Church with the Rev. Armand Dussault officiating. From 1952 to 1978 Mrs. Walentuk was the owner and manager of Guerrieri’s Ladies Shop. She also taught junior high school English at Carthage Central School from 1967 to 1989.

Mrs. Walentuk was recently honored for her years of service and dedication by the state Regional Council of Figure Skating Clubs. She was a precision, figure, free-skating, and ice-dancing judge for the United States Figure Skating Association and the Northern New York Council of Figure Skating Clubs.

She was on the organizational committee for the River Blades precision figure skating team and served as its advisor from 1969 until the time of her death.

Mrs. Walentuk was the first woman president of the Alexandria Bay Chamber of Commerce and she and Mr. Walentuk were the first chairpersons of Pirate Weekend in Alexandria Bay. She was again chairman of the tourist event from 1989 to 1992.

She has served on the Chamber board of directors for the past 20 years and was involved at the time of her death in the planning of a Roaring 20’s Weekend to be held this summer.

She was a member of Alpha Chi Omega social sorority and Alpha Delta Pi national sociology honor society. She was past president of both the Alexandria Bay Parent-Teacher Association and the Edward John Noble Hospital Auxiliary.

Mrs. Walentuk will be honored posthumously as the chamber Citizen of the Year at a dinner rescheduled from May 25 to Wednesday, June 1 at Pine Tree Point Resort starting at 6 p.m.

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Mrs. Harold (Mary Emma Watson) George, Redwood, is the sole executrix and legatee of the $35,648.37 net estate of her mother, Mrs. Caroline Mary Bauder Watson, 89, who died last April 16 leaving a gross estate fixed at $36,714.37 in the inheritance tax appraisal filed by County Treasurer Ross D. Andrus with Judge Leon Schwerzmann, surrogate.

Attorneys Scanlon, Wright, Willmott & Aylward are counsel to the estate.

Since the death of her husband on April 17, 1933, Mrs. Watson and her daughter, Mrs. George, had been joint owners and operators of the J. G. Watson Petroleum company, a wholesale gasoline and oil business which Mr. Watson had founded in Redwood in 1917.

The inheritance tax appraisal shows the gross estate to consist of $13,372.58 bank accounts, $9,410,28 of property jointly owned with her daughter and $13,931.51 miscellaneous property. Deductions from the gross estate amounted to $1,066, all of which was funeral and administration expenses.

The jointly-owned property was made up of $3,527.92 securities, $1,2000 realty which also represents her half interest in the family residence on Pine street, Redwood, and $4,682.36 half in bank accounts. Her half interest in the miscellaneous amounted to $13,931.51.