Iron miner's daughters give back more than $2 million locally

May 11—LYON MOUNTAIN — The daughters of a Lyon Mountain iron miner have bequeathed riches out of the blue to a local church, college and a service agency.

The combined estates of Dr. Frances M. Penalis (27 November 1929-26 February 2015) and Helena T. Penalis (7 June 1931-24 October 2017) gifted $1,567,544.91 to Hospice of the North Country, $522,514.97 to SUNY Plattsburgh, and $80,000 to St. Bernard's Church.

"We are profoundly grateful for this extraordinary act of generosity from Frances and Helena," Natalie Whitehurst, Hospice of the North Country's CEO, said.

"Their remarkable bequest will enable us to further enhance our services, ensuring that every individual in our care receives the highest quality of support and compassion."

In Managing Editor Ashleigh Livingston's Plattsburgh Magazine article, A 'Sincere Desire' Shared by Siblings: University Receives Generous Bequests From Penalis Sisters, SUNY Plattsburgh President Dr. Alexander Enyedi states:

"I am profoundly grateful to Frances and Helena Penalis for their extraordinary generosity. Their combined bequests of over $570,000 will have a lasting impact on our university community. Unrestricted gifts like theirs play a vital role in supporting student scholarships, enabling countless students to successfully attain their degrees and pursue their dreams at SUNY Plattsburgh."

In the same article, Anne Whitmore Hansen, vice president of Institutional Advancement and executive director of the Plattsburgh College Foundation, states:

"The legacy gifts from Frances and Helena Penalis and their life stories are heartwarming on so many levels. The sisters were clearly best friends. They spent their formative years being educated here at SUNY Plattsburgh, and later in life, they circled back to their roots and lived together. Frances and Helena crafted their legacy gift plans together. They selected the same three local organizations that meant the most to them — Saint Bernard's Church in Lyon Mountain, Hospice of the North Country and SUNY Plattsburgh — and gave just about everything they had to them. They loved one another, and they certainly loved SUNY Plattsburgh. We are deeply grateful for the way their gifts will help SUNY Plattsburgh students to achieve their degrees."

Rev. Tojo Chacko, HGN, pastor of St. Bernard's and St. Edmund's Parish, writes in a statement:

"On January 31, 2024, we received a generous donation of $40,000 from the Estate of Helena Penalis to St. Bernard's Church in Lyon Mountain. These funds will be used for the operation of the parish, allowing us to continue our mission of sharing Jesus Christ, His truth and His love. The Penalis Sisters were longtime active parishioners and stayed connected to the parish throughout their lives. We, the staff and parishioners of St. Bernard's and St. Edmund's Parish, are grateful to the Penalis sisters for their dedication to St. Bernard's and our Catholic faith, and we continue to pray for their eternal souls."

BACKSTORY

Frances and Helena were the daughters of iron miner Michael and nurse Anna (Golovach) Penalis, who preceded them in death as well as a brother, Michael, Jr.

The Penalis patriarch Alexander (1869-1905) was from Lithuania, and he and his wife, Helena, had four children, according to books, "Out of the Darkness: In Memory of Lyon Mountain's Iron Men" and "Lyon Mountain: the Tragedy of an Iron Town," by author Lawrence P. Gooley of Bloated Toe Enterprises.

Alexander died on May 13, 1905. A newspaper account states: "Alexander Provich [Pinalis], a miner at Lyon Mountain, had his eyes blown out while at work in the mines there last week. He was taken to the hospital at Burlington, where he died on Saturday."

Tragedy struck the family again when his son, driller Walter "Charles," (1903 — 1927), the husband of Dorothea Pietrowska, died July 9, 1927 when he was crushed by ore falling. Fred Pinks, 25, an Englishman, was also killed in the incident when a mine roof they were demolishing with crowbars collapsed, according to a newspaper account.

Pinks was killed instantly, and Pinalis died three hours later at Champlain Valley Hospital.

Frances and Helena's father, Michael Alexander, died on March 2, 1936 when he was struck by falling ore. The 37-year-old was a driller and had been with Chateaugay Ore & Iron Company for 12 years. His funeral was held at St. Bernard's Church at Lyon Mountain.

After Michael's death, his wife, Anna, and Frances and Helena were evicted from their company residence and moved into the home of Anna' parents, Adolph and Teofilia Golovach, in the village, according to Gooley.

BEYOND LYON MOUNTAIN

Frances and Helena graduated from Lyon Mountain High School and attended Plattsburgh State. In 1951, Frances graduated from the college with a bachelor's of science degree and taught secondary education for three and a half years, according to her R. W. Walker Funeral Home obituary. In 1956, she received a master of arts degree from Michigan State University. The clothing major became an instructor at the University of Delaware, and then Margrove College in Detroit, and Syracuse University. She received a doctorate of education degree from Pennsylvania State University in 1968.

Helena started her undergraduate degree at Plattsburgh State, but she transferred and received a bachelor's of science degree from Cornell University, according to her obituary. Later, she earned a master's of science degree from Ohio State University. After a stint as a college instructor at Michigan State University, she became manager of sales planning and training with Corning Glass Works in Corning, NY. That was her ticket to adventures across the country and abroad. She was listed in Who's Who in American Women 1972-1973, and she was a regional officer in American Women in Radio and Television.

BACK HOME

Frances and Helena made their way in the world, excelled in their professions, but they always looked back over their shoulders at Lyon Mountain, where the "dear sisters and best friends" retired to their ancestral homestead. Helena immortalized their home place in her book, "The History of the Hamlet of Lyon Mountain."

Frances died on February 26, 2015, and Helena followed her to glory two years later on October 24, 2017. They are both buried in the St. Bernard's Church parish cemetery in Lyon Mountain.

FAST FRIENDS

Neil Seymour, a former marketing director for Franklin County and the Adirondack Region Tourism Council, is the executor of the sisters' estates.

He met Helena in the late 1980s, when he had just purchased a property on Upper Chateaugay Lake and built a cottage. Neil and his wife, Kathy, and their three children — Colleen, Robert, and Timothy — attended Mass at St. Michael's Church in Standish.

"Helena was a greeter, and we became fast friends," he said.

"She was always so bubbly and outgoing and so interesting when you were talking with her. That's where it started. She had retired at that point, and over the course of time, her sister would come from Syracuse University in the summer months, and she would also be there. We got to know the two of them very well. I have a brother Paul, and he moved to Upper Chateaugay Lake, and so he got to meet them as well."

"When we first met them, it was Helena who came right over to us, not Fran," Kathy said.

"They were very nice ladies. This is just the way Helena was like who are you guys? All the years that we were living there, my children used to tease my husband and say, 'Here comes your girlfriend, Dad.' She always liked my husband."

COLLEAGUE REFERRAL

Paul, a financial advisor, managed all of the sisters' investments.

"But, they came to me," he said.

"One of the sisters taught at Syracuse University, and another financial advisor in Syracuse called me and said that he had done business with the one sister for some years, but she had retired and had moved into my area and I should probably just call on them. So, I called on both of them. At the time, I think their mother was ill. I kind of basically just backed off. After she passed away, they contacted me, I took care of all their investments from that time until both of them had passed away. We became very close."

"My brother-in-law Paul was a financial advisor in Plattsburgh, and when he was working with them on making arrangements for their wills, they asked my husband to become their executor," Kathy said.

"The mother had gone to nursing school at Plattsburgh State, and they felt an affiliation toward that school. The mother had been taken care of by Hospice."

PERSONALITIES

Neil noticed the sisters' intelligence.

"They were very bright, first of all," he said.

"Helena always knew her own mind, and she was always involved in things throughout the community," he said.

"They were very religious. Helena was more kind of like a leader, and Fran was more like a follower. They were very involved in their community. Helena was on their town board, and she was the historian. Helena was a reader in the church. Frances was a little bit quieter.

"The most unique thing about these two women was they were so accomplished but at the same time as soon as they finished their work they moved right back into the same house that their mother was in all these years. It was just this very small, small house. It was just remarkable when you think that it had such an attraction, and they saved their money. They did not spend money. They totally saved it. The story to me is the fact that these two women, who were so accomplished, and Helena who traveled every where for Corning. She was everywhere, and immediately when she could have a chance to retire, she immediately went back and that's where she was."

UPPER CHATEAUGAY

On Upper Chateaugay, Paul welcomed Frances and Helena into the fold.

"I could see they were kind of isolated," he said.

"We would have them over here for lunch and had them for Thanksgiving every year thereafter until they moved to the Vilas Home. Fran was hospitalized, and the doctor thought that she really need to have more help than she could get from Helena in Lyon Mountain. So Fran went in, and then Helena was very lonely without her. She didn't really necessarily want to go in, but then she turned around and they went in. They had a pretty sizable room in the Vilas Home."

BOUNTIFUL BEQUESTS

The sisters' gift to Hospice of the North Country is the agency's largest donation to date.

"I think that had to do with the care of their mother before she died," Paul said.

"Hospice is probably a more attractive charity to people that want to become charitable because of the work they do. They both died basically in the Vilas Home. Since they had that care, they didn't need Hospice."

The impact of this bequest extends far beyond monetary value, according to a Hospice press release.

"It serves as a testament to the enduring legacy of compassion and empathy that Frances and Helena embodied throughout their lifetime. Their legacy will continue to inspire us as we strive to uphold the highest standards of care and compassion for those we serve."

"St. Bernard's was their parish church," Paul said.

"They both attended Plattsburgh State, but I think they were most appreciative because they sent their mother back to school at an advanced age to get a nursing degree from Plattsburgh State. and I think that's what really was the trigger. They were both out on their own working and that sort of thing. It was a pretty advanced age that she got that degree, maybe in her late 50s, early 60s. The sisters paid for that degree. It must have really raised her standard of living because they thought so much about that. I couldn't get over it. Their estates basically transferred to the survivor except for a few little things and those few things were transferred to the charities and to the church when Fran died. The two estates combined and then transferred after Helena passed away."

SAVVY INVESTORS

Frances and Helena understood that investing had really good days and some bad days.

"That didn't affect them at all," Paul said.

"They would come to the office very, very often. In the early years, they would read the Wall Street Journal in the morning, then they would come into the office. In those days, I read it after work. So, I hadn't even read anything yet. They would quiz me on the Wall Street Journal. Of course on those days, it didn't do much good. They would kind of go back a few days in a month and that kind of thing and that's partially how they gained confidence in me."

TWIN SPIRITS

Frances and Helena could have been twin sisters in Paul's estimation.

"Not in appearance, but one would finish the other's sentences," he said.

"They were very, very, close. I did spend an awful lot of time with them here, and then here at Chateaugay Lake and then up at their home. They were a little bit eccentric because they had so much money. I've got an awful lot of clients, and I've certainly seen that situation many times before. It's not abnormal."

Email: rcaudell@pressrepublican.com

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