June 18, 2014

Malone – A memorial Mass for Father E. John Silver, 87, was held June 13 at Notre Dame Church with Father Joseph A. Morgan, vicar general, presiding.

Father Silver died June 6 at Grand Strand Regional Medical Center in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina.

Burial was in Notre Dame Cemetery, Malone. 

Father Silver was born May 6, 1927 in Malone, the son of the late Joseph Oliver and Sadie Nichols Silver.

He was a 1945 graduate of Franklin Academy in Malone and then enlisted in the US Navy where he served during WWII from 1945-46. 

After his military service, he attended Clarkson College in Potsdam where he received a bachelor’s degree in business administration in 1950.

From 1954 to 1988 Father Sliver was employed by Marine Midland Bank working in various locations throughout the North Country. Prior to his retirement, he achieved the position of vice president of the bank.

In 1958, he married Rosemary McGum in Antwerp with whom he raised two daughters. 

After his wife’s death in 1987, Father Silver began studies for the priesthood at Blessed John XXIII Seminary, Weston, Massachusetts.

He was ordained on May 23, 1993 by Bishop Stanislaus J. Brzana at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg.

Prior to becoming a priest, Father Silver was very active in several charitable organizations including the United Way, Kiwanis and the Elks club well as many Catholic organizations such as the Knights of Columbus and as a member of the pastoral council of Notre Dame  Church

After Father Silver’s ordination as a priest, he was assigned as parochial vicar at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg and St. Bernard’s, Saranac Lake, administrator of St. Agnes in Lake Placid and at St. Joseph’s, Philadelphia and St. Michael’s, Antwerp.

In 1996, Father Silver was named parochial vicar at St. Augustine’s, Peru and, in 1997, pastor of St. Vincent DePaul, Cape Vincent. 

Father Silver retired in 2002.  Following his retirement, he moved to South Carolina for six months of the year, serving at St. James Church in Conway and the remaining months he helped out in Rosiere.

In addition to his wife, Father Silver was predeceased by his brother, Leon Silver and his sister Eleanor Patterson.

He is survived by daughters, Kimberly Silver-Harmon and her husband Timothy J. Harmon of Malone and Mary Alice Rounds and her husband, Tim Rounds of Brainardsville; a brother Donald Silver of Malone; four sisters, Kathryn Jackson of Bradenton, Fl., Paulie Bohon of FL, Joan Brooks (Vern), Mooers, Ann Duffy (Robert) of Troy, ten grandchildren and ten great-grandchildren.