Lake George couple plan retreat center
By Molly Miron
Pioneer Editor
mmiron@bemidjipioneer.com

Published Sunday, September 19, 2004, in the Bemidji Pioneer

 Sal and Beth Di Leo check out the rock work at the entrance to St. Francis Lodge, a guest house they plan to build as a retreat for nuns on the shore of Lake George.

1963, Joliet, Illinois ... A dirty little boy with a shaved head of hair is staring straight up into the face of an old Nun.

Sal Di Leo, from “Did I Ever Thank You, Sister? A True Story.”

LAKE GEORGE

Sal Di Leo of Minneapolis and Lake George is a successful businessman. He is a happy husband married for 23 years to his wife, Beth. And he is a proud father of grown daughters, Kate and Jane.

At 50 years old, he knows he is a lucky man, but that wasn’t always the case.

In 1963, his father abandoned the family, and his mother, left with no support, was unable to cope with raising 12 children.

“My poor mother was pregnant 14 times,” said Sal.

The four youngest, Sal, about 9 at the time, Mario, Maria and Kitty, were taken by child welfare authorities and placed in the Guardian Angel Home orphanage in Joliet, Ill. Later, he spent his high school years at Boys Town in Omaha, Neb.

Resentful feelings

For many years, Sal felt as if he had been unfairly dealt a bad hand in life. He lived with feelings of resentment and anger, and fell into self-destructive behavior. His business collapsed and, in February 1985, he went into bankruptcy. Thoughts of suicide surfaced.

“I could solve my family’s problem real easy,” he wrote in his autobiography, “Did I Ever Thank You, Sister?” “But I also remembered what it felt like to grow up alone without a father.”

“I wanted so badly to have children who were loved and not alone,” he said.

He prayed, and into his mind came the memory of one of the nuns who had cared for him and his sisters and brother at the Guardian Angel Home. He hadn’t talked to Sister Paul for nearly 20 years, but he called the Mother House of the Sisters of St. Francis and located her.

Reaching back

When Sal reached her on the phone, Sister Paul remembered him immediately. She told him to turn to God, and later, when he visited her in Joliet, she counseled him to forgive his parents. “Maybe you may never know the truth, but even if you don’t, you need to finally give them redemption in order to finally move on,” she said.

“Sister Paul was a really neat lady,” said Beth Di Leo. “She died at 90 last Thanksgiving.”

“She was clear minded even after all those strokes,” Sal remembered. “She was a mother to me. All those nuns were, Sister Rose, Sister David and Sister Andrea.”

At some point, Sal realized he had actually been a lucky boy growing up, with many people the nuns, families who befriended him, teachers who encouraged him helping him through the years. “Every step along the way there was someone there,” Sal said.

Giving back

He also realized he wanted to give something back to the people who had saved him and his siblings.

So, in May 1999, he and Beth bought a wooded bluff and gorge on Lake George. Gradually, they cleared the land and now have a building site, well and septic system ready for what will become St. Francis Lodge, a guest house for nuns seeking a quiet retreat and for women contemplating becoming nuns.

“When we saw the lot advertised, I said, ‘Buy it.’ It’s kind of evolved,” said Beth.

They named it after St. Francis because they love the saint who left a life of wealth and privilege to found the Franciscan Order. The reference is also to the Franciscan nuns who helped raise Sal.

“What makes it so neat is there is no agenda,” said Sal, explaining that most religious retreat centers are program-oriented, rather than places where people can simply relax. “This is going to be more of a place where they can have some peace and quiet.”

The Di Leos are funding the project with sales of Sal’s autobiography, and, potentially, with income from a song he wrote in support of President Ronald Reagan, “Come On America!” Meanwhile, many individuals and businesses have donated to the development of St. Francis Lodge, including Gladden Construction of Laporte, Kahlstorff Lumber of Lake George and Ken’s Backhoe Service of Lake George. Architect David Engelson of the Cunningham Group in Minneapolis also donated the design work.

“This community has really embraced it,” Sal said of the project. “Somehow, I think that God is working with us.”

Transformed site

What had once been a brushy acreage is now a park filled with hardwood trees, featuring a winding path lined with carved Stations of the Cross and a grotto with flowers and a statue of Mary.

The Stations of the Cross are unique, hand carved images in butternut wood by Sister Maryanne Osborne of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in Mankato.

“The Stations of the Cross are a re-enactment of the Passion of the Lord,” Sal explained.

Usually, devout Catholics walk and pray at each of 14 stations, but Sister Maryanne added a 15th station depicting Jesus’ Resurrection.

Eventually, there will be a bed-and-breakfast house for up to eight nuns, a chapel, dock and outdoor elevator to allow disabled sisters to reach the lake.

“Everything is going to be handicapped accessible. We want it so women who are older can come here, too,” Sal said. “What I’m hoping is the nuns will be able to walk to the chapel, or they can take mountain bikes and go over to Itasca or go out the canoes.”

“Did I Ever Thank You, Sister?” is available by accessing www. salsbook.com.

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