Aaron Naze 

The first thing Aaron was asked to do as a part of this interview was to answer the question of how his surname is pronounced.  While most of his immediate family prefers the version that rhymes with “maze”, Aaron says he will answer either way.  It so happens that when his children attended St. Bernard School they began to change their name to the single-syllable rendering, and it seems to have stuck. 

 

At the invitation of a neighbor, Aaron got involved in the Knights of Columbus with Council 4505 about forty years ago; he tried to calculate the year by remembering what sort of car he had at the time: “I had a ‘56 Plymouth, so it had to be around ‘55 or 56.”  Early in his association with the Knights he was also involved with the Squires program for several years.  He recalls seeing the program seem to come together very well, though he was pretty much alone in handling it.  Eventually some others came forward to help, and Aaron pulled away, only to see the program fizzle out soon afterward.  He is listed as a Charter Member of Council 10243, and has been an active part of the local fraternity ever since it began.  He was elected the first Chancellor of the new Council  and served in that capacity until June of 1992 when he was elected Warden.  Aaron shares the distinction with Leon Janowski of being the only two men who have served as Officers of Council 10243 since it’s birth up until the present time.  (Richard Rebman has also been in leadership since being chosen the first Grand Knight; he is currently serving as State Warden.)  Aaron has been involved in more activities of the Council than he can remember, including booyahs, bell ringing and food sales.  He’s worked with Roger Shaha a few times coordinating the Knights’ Grill at the St. Bernard Parish Picnic, and he especially notes the willingness of so many Knights and families to show up to work the Grill.  He has also been a considerable help to Membership, bringing in new members and getting a number of inactive men interested and energized again.

 

His work experience has had considerable variety as well.  Aaron worked for FMC, a packaging and bag converting operation for twenty years, Amplas for fourteen years and operated a service station for six years.  Officially retired since last July, he still goes to work occasionally.  When he’s not occupied with work, he likes to enjoy the outdoors by gardening, hunting and fishing (though he prefers not to talk about some of the unsuccessful hunts of the last couple of years).  He likes to work with machines, trying to repair things himself rather than taking them in. He’s also a musician who has been playing the trumpet in a combo for twenty five years after a couple of years in an army band.

 

A native of Casco, he has lived in Green Bay for about forty years now and he and his wife, Carol, have been married for about that long as well.  They have four children, some still in the area.  He and Carol were a part of the first group of Eucharistic Ministers to serve at St. Bernard and have been active in that ministry ever since.  Aaron plans on remaining quite active in the Knights, and he enjoys attending meetings and discussing possible projects of the Council and trying to make the organization better all-around.  He was a part of our Council’s “Class of 1994” for the Fourth Degree, taking that step with four other brothers last April.  Certainly his enthusiasm and excitement for the life of the Council is an example for many.

 

January 1995