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Family Photos

John Thomas LaForte

Delmar, NY

1928

 Interviewed on location at John’s Dumbarton Drive home in Delmar on March 13, 2026 by Eric Bryant w/ Tim Bebee present.

Just before the spring thaw in 2026, BOHP had the distinct pleasure of sitting down with Mr. John LaForte, who has called Bethlehem home for more than 60 years. In fact, he and his wife are the first and only owners of their ranch–style home in Kenholm Gardens, which they bought brand new from A. T. Zautner & Son Builders in 1966.  

As you’ll hear, his father Tomasso LoForte (surname later modified to current form)came to the United States from San Giuseppe Jato – a mountainside village in the Metropolitan City of Palermo in Sicily – with his family in 1911. Thomas was only 10 years old at the time, and much later chronicled his journey in a notebook John still owns.  

Initially settling in Frankfort, New York, a small town just outside of Utica, the family worked on hops farms for the region’s many breweries, to pay down the cost of their passage to the United States.  By the time he was 18 however, John’s father found work repairing typewriters at the Remington factory in Ilion – a job at which he soon excelled.

In 1923, Thomas wed John’s mother, Calogera “Lena” Mannino, whose family were neighbors in Frankfort but also hailed from the same small village in Palermo.  By 1928, the family relocated to Albany, where Thomas serviced state-contract Remington typewriters and other business machines. They settled on Grand Street, an appreciably large Italian enclave in the city through much of the 20th century, prior to the construction of Empire State Plaza.  

In our interview, John recalls his early years in Albany, including family, school and his enlistment in the Navy during World War II, where he served on the USS Manchester, explored numerous European ports of call and even received a once-in-a-lifetime audience with Pope Pius XII.  His time in the Navy set his course for a lifetime career in electrical engineering, from the US Navy Research Laboratory in Washington, DC, to Eastman Kodak in Rochester, and eventually a 30-year run at Schenectady’s world-famous General Electric campus.  

We also learned about the chance meeting that resulted in John’s 66-year marriage to Gloria Mosher (1930-2019) and the birth of his three daughters.  The Mosher family has deep roots in our town – Gloria descended from Cornelius Mosher, a Dutchess County soldier of the Revolutionary War (Col. Frederick Weissenfels’ New York Levies) whose son Hugh moved to Bethlehem around 1805.  Hugh’s son – also named Cornelius – built a home in South Bethlehem in 1841 that still stands today and is now home to Circle M Ranch, an upscale equine and agritourism facility.  

Gloria’s father Ernest Mosher (1890-1966) and Uncle Orville Mosher (1895-1963) were large landowners in town, with farm holdings in Glenmont, Delmar, South Bethlehem and Selkirk.  Many longtime Bethlehem residents are related to Moshers by marriage, including members of the Patterson, Brate, and Blodgett families.  Gloria’s stepsister Enda was married to Henry Weisheit, the well-known 20th century veterinarian from Glenmont and great uncle to Bill & Doug Weisheit, who BOHP interviewed in 2024.

John later became involved in government and local politics, serving as a block captain for the Bethlehem Republican Committee in the 1970s, and oversaw neighborhood expansion into the town’s more rural hamlets as a member of the Bethlehem Planning Board.  That era ushered in the development of Colonial Acres in Glenmont, Elm Estates in Selkirk, and Beverwyck Senior Living facility in North Bethlehem.  

Today, he keeps busy with family and still bowls in a league at Del Lanes on Thursday nights.  We hope you enjoy learning John’s story as much as we did!

Family Photos