Charles Adlore Vadnais and Florence Cecelia Doran (part 3 of 3)

On April 2, 1954 the St. Paul Dispatch published an article about the family titled “Parents Overcome Deafness.”²⁹

In 1962 the St. Paul Dispatch published a second article about the family.³⁰

Charles was an active member of the Knights of Columbus and throughout their lives both Charles and Florence were quite active in a number of deaf community organizations including: the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf, International Catholic Deaf Association, Minnesota Association of Deaf Citizens and the Charles Thompson Memorial Hall (the first social club in the nation designed exclusively for the deaf).

The oldest of these organizations, the National Fraternal Society of the Deaf (NFSD) was established in 1901 to provide insurance coverage to deaf people, a service that regular insurance companies refused to provide. At the time, insurance companies and fraternal benefit societies often denied deaf people the ability to buy insurance coverage, under the impression that deaf individuals were more likely to be involved in accidents and had shorter life spans than the general population. As a result, deaf men were either overcharged or denied coverage. I found it interesting, but not surprising, that women were not allowed to join NFSD until 1937 and that race restrictions weren’t lifted until 1955.

Florence and Charles lived and raised their children in their home on Bald Eagle Avenue, just a block or so from the family business, White Bear Oil Company, where Charles kept the books for the company until his retirement on October 1, 1976. As you can see in the memo, he continued to work part-time at the company. That continued until sometime in 1988.

**Excerpt from the August 12, 1976 White Bear Oil Company board meeting – “Charles would like to retire…”**³¹
Since he signed the document, Charles must have been the secretary at the time, but the handwriting is that of Charles’ brother, my father, Jack Vadnais.

**1977 – Florence and Charles at their son Tim’s wedding**

**October 24, 1984 – *White Bear Press* photo of the Vadnais brothers in celebration of the White Bear Oil Company 65^th birthday**³²
Dick is 65 years old, Gordy is 55 years old, George is 74 years old, Charles is 73 years old and Jack is 59 years old.

Charles and Florence celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary on June 18, 1986. Their children held a party for them at Bobbie’s in the Park, a restaurant venue in the old post office in White Bear Lake.

**1986 – Florence and Charles at their 50^th wedding anniversary celebration**

1986 – 50^th wedding anniversary celebration, shown (left to right): George Vadnais, Charles, Florence and Martha (Doran) Vadnais. George and Martha stood up for Charles and Florence when they were married. George is Charles’ older brother and Martha is Florence’s younger sister. Martha married Dick Vadnais, another brother of Charles

**1986 Charles, Florence and their children**
**Left to right: Tim, Steve, Mike, Charles, Florence, Julaine and Patty**

Charles passed away from pneumonia at the White Bear Care Center in White Bear Lake on Sunday, June 11, 1989.³³ He was 78 years, 8 months and 1 day old.

**Minnesota death certificate for Charles Adlore Vadnais**

A mass of Christian burial was held on Tuesday, June 13, 1989 at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in White Bear Lake, followed by burial in the church cemetery.

*St. Paul Dispatch* story/obituary for Charles Vadnais³⁴

Florence lived almost 3 more years after Charles, passing away on Saturday, May 23, 1992.³⁵ She was 80 years, 8 months and 27 days old.

A mass of Christian burial was held on Tuesday, May 26, 1992 at St. Mary of the Lake Catholic Church in White Bear Lake, followed by her being laid to rest next to Charles in the church cemetery.