August 27, 2025

By Darcy Fargo
Editor

A longtime professor at Wadhams Hall Seminary, Father Gilbert B. Menard is remembered as being a man who encouraged others, sharing Christ’s love with them.

Father Menard died August 8, 2025, at Plattsburgh Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was 96.

“I hear about him from so many angles,” said Father Bernard Menard, Father Gilbert Menard’s nephew. “As a priest, he was very influential. He taught Latin and French at Wadhams. Everyone says he was very encouraging and supportive. He’d give his students hints – he may give them 10 sentences to translate, but then he would give hints about what would be on the next test. Everyone felt he was encouraging them.”

While his uncle was known for being scholarly, the younger Father Menard said his uncle’s ministry touched lives outside the seminary walls, as well.

“He was scholarly, but he was also pastoral, and he was local and community oriented,” Father Bernard Menard said. “He was very even tempered. He handled crisis situations well. He had the gift of counsel, a gift of the Holy Spirit. He was able to do what needed to be done in any situation while keeping his spiritual peace. It’s something I try to imitate.”

Father Benard Menard said Father Gilbert Menard also had a gift for giving homilies with clear lessons that those in the pews could easily remember.

“When he retired, he still had a lot of ministry left in him,” Father Bernard Menard said. “He would go all over the place to celebrate Masses. When I was in Louisville and Massena, if I couldn’t find local coverage for a Mass, he would cover. When I got back, people would say to me, ‘you got to get that guy back again.’ His homilies could be summarized around a central point. Everyone could repeat the main point back to me the next week. He was able to reach people that way.”

Father Bernard Menard said his uncle was known for being friendly and for having kind words to say about everyone, gifts that helped him connect to a wide variety of people.

“You’d have very liberal people and very conservative people, all different types of people with all different angles after Vatican II,” he said. “He was able to work with all the different elements, and he could put a positive spin on just about any situation.”

Those characteristics helped the younger Father Menard in his priesthood, he said.

“The first time I went to a priest gathering, at the time it was in Lake Placid, he really gave me a head start,” Father Bernard Menard said. “Because of him, the other priests had a positive view of our family, and people received me very well as a result. I’m very grateful for that.”

Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Aug. 14

A Mass of Christian Burial for Father Gilbert B. Menard was celebrated at 11 a.m. on Thursday August 14, 2025, at St. Ann’s Church in Mooers Forks. Bishop Terry R. LaValley celebrated the Mass and offered the homily.

Father Bernard Menard, nephew and priest of the Diocese of Syracuse, presided over the Reception of the Body on August 13 at St. Ann’s Church in Mooers Forks. Calling hours will follow until 6 p.m.

Burial was in St. Ann’s Cemetery.

Father Menard died August 8, 2025, at Plattsburgh Rehabilitation and Nursing Center. He was 96.

Born October 24, 1928, in Mooers, he was the son of Bernard and Adele (Arquette) Menard. He grew up in Mooers, attending Saint Mary’s Academy in Champlain. He studied at Wadhams Hall in Ogdensburg and St. Bernard’s Seminary in Rochester, New York. He later received graduate studies at Saint Michael’s College in Winooski, VT and the State University College at Potsdam.

He was ordained May 21, 1955, at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg by Bishop Walter Kellenberg.

Father Menard’s first assignment was as assistant pastor in Lake Placid followed by St. Mary’s Church in Potsdam and St. Ann’s Church in Mooers Forks. During this time, he also served as faculty at St. Mary’s Academy in Champlain and taught Latin at Mooers High School, and the diocesan Director of the Columbian Squires.

In 1965, Father Menard was parochial vicar at Saint Alphonsus Church in Tupper Lake until becoming pastor at St. Peter’s Church in Hammond and St. Patrick’s Church in Rossie in 1971. In 1978, he was named pastor of St. Alexander’s Church in Morrisonville. He then served as pastor at St. Edmund’s Church in Ellenburg Center and St. Philomena’s Church in from 1983 until his retirement in 1999.

Father Menard was on the faculty of Wadhams Hall Seminary from 1965 to 1978, teaching Latin and French and serving as Foreign Languages Chair. Additionally, Father Menard was a prolific speaker and retreat director for youth and adults, presenting around the diocese on many topics. Among his many other duties, he was a prison chaplain at Clinton Correctional Facility, instructed CCD teachers, was chaplain of the Court Little Rose Catholic Daughters of America, was a deanery director for the Bishop’s Fund Appeal and served on the diocesan Board of Consultors.

Survivors include his sisters Cecile McDonald, Rita Miner, Sr. Elizabeth Menard, Gloria Menard, Catherine (Jerry) Frederick, Regina (John) Stansbury, and Jeanne Menard; brothers Roland Menard and Arthur (Norma) Menard. Father Menard is also survived by Shirley Reyell, his faithful housekeeper for over 45 years, and many nieces and nephews.

Father Menard was predeceased by his parents, brothers Fr. Clarence Menard, Leonard (Doris and Joyce) Manor, and infant Joseph Menard; sisters Theresa (Raymond) Lavoie, and infant Bertha Menard; and brothers-in-law Donald McDonald and Jerry Miner.

In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be offered to St. Ann’s Church, Mooers Forks, New York.

Arrangements are in the care of the Brown Funeral Home, Plattsburgh, New York.