John A. Fitch
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 16, 2022Born: c. 1931
Died: September 8 2022
Married: Anne Scovel
Children: David Fitch, Andrew Fitch, Lorraine Fitch Harmon
The Reverend John A. Fitch was the Dean of Students and Attendance Officer at Saranac Lake High School for many years. He served as a Saranac Lake Village Trustee from 1985 to 1990, during which time he was appointed deputy mayor by William Madden III. He also served as minister at Chapel Island in Upper Saranac Lake from 1967 to 1996, and as pastor at Lake Clear Presbyterian Church, St. Regis Presbyterian Church, and the Presbyterian Church in Gabriels during the period from 1968 to 1973.
He had a camp on Gull Point on Upper Saranac Lake.
Tupper Lake Free Press and Tupper Lake Herald, August 7, 1974
...Rev. John A. Fitch will return to the Chapel pulpit on Sunday, September 1 to close out the 1974 summer season. Rev. Fitch, a former pastor of the Goshen Presbyterian Church in Goshen, N. Y. has for many years been an official of the Saranac Lake School System, and resides in the area with his family. The Fitch summer camp is not far from the chapel, and 1971 will make the seventh year for Rev. Fitch to preach there...
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, June 24, 1994
...The Rev. John A. Fitch retired in 1991 from the Saranac Lake School System. As a Presbyterian minister he marks 1994 as his 27th year of service on the island. He and his wife spend their summers at Gull Point...
Adirondack Daily Enterprise, September 16, 2022
John A. Fitch
John A. Fitch, 91, of Saranac Lake, son of the late Hugh R. Fitch and Esther L. Swallen, passed away peacefully at home on Thursday, Sept. 8, 2022.
John was born in Annapolis, Maryland, raised in Leonia, New Jersey, and was educated at Wooster College in Ohio and at Princeton Theological Seminary in New Jersey.
John, alongside his beloved wife of 67 years, Anne Scovel Fitch, served several churches in the central New Jersey and southern New York regions during the 1950s and ’60s. In 1967, they moved to Saranac Lake, where they resided as full time residents until 1991, and as summer residents until 2020 at their cabin on Upper Saranac Lake — a home that John built entirely by himself over the years.
John served the Saranac Lake Central School District from 1967 until 1991 as the dean of students, was a regular preacher during the summers at Chapel Island on Upper Saranac Lake, and served two terms as a Saranac Lake village trustee.
From 1991 to 2001, John and Anne fulfilled a lifelong dream of living on a boat during the winter months, travelling along the inland waterways to and from Florida each year. Finally, they settled in Port Orange, Florida in 2001 during the winter months, where John served as a parish associate at Port Orange Presbyterian Church and enjoyed his daily walks around the lake with his dog Louie. In June of this year John and Anne moved back north to be closer to their children and their families who consider themselves blessed to have been able to spend time with him before he passed.
John loved and respected all people; he was a kind, wise yet humble man who touched many hearts over the course of his lifetime.
To his family and those who knew him well, he was a true Renaissance man, capable of preaching an inspiring sermon on Sunday morning, and then off to rebuild his Jeep motor or work on the cabin later that afternoon. He loved and valued all people and was as comfortable and excited discussing cabin plumbing issues down at Hulberts, as he was meeting with his fellow Rotarians. He felt blessed to have been able to know so many of the high school students over the years and prided himself on his ability to recognize them and their children over the many years afterward.
John is survived by his wife Anne Scovel Fitch of Severna Park, Maryland; his eldest son David, wife Vera, and daughter Bethany Fitch from Westminster, Maryland; son Andrew Fitch from Colorado Springs, Colorado; daughter Lorraine Fitch Harmon, husband Tom, son Jacob, and daughter Anna of Pasadena, Maryland; and two sisters, Sally Gerdes of South Carolina and Mimi Fleming of Ohio.
A celebration of life service will be held on Oct. 15, 2022 at First Presbyterian Church of Saranac Lake, 57 Church St., at 1 p.m., followed by a time for fellowship.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to: Island Chapel Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 71, Saranac Lake, NY 12983.
