It’s always nice when Marv Cermak gives me a ring. You’ve got to respect a guy who has stayed tough in the newspaper business for as long as Marv has; he was working at the old Gazette during the early 1960s, when I was still in grammar school. He followed up his Gazette days with a longer career at Albany’s Times Union and the former Knickerbocker News.
Anyway, Marv calls once in a while to chat about our Monday history page and I am happy for the conversation. This week, with the James A. Mynderse piece in the “Back in Time” slot, Marv reminded me that Mr. Mynderse was his great-grandfather.
Mynderse left behind wife Lucinda and three children — son William, 17, and daughters Celia, 19, and Eva, 8.
Eva, who became a music teacher, was Cermac’s grandmother. Marv also knew William and Celia as great-uncle and great-aunt, respectively. He added that the three never talked about their father’s death.
Mynderse Street, located off State Street between Grove and Chestnut streets, is named for the police officer who died 108 years ago this spring.