Benet Academy still helps shape kids' lives
Benet Academy has a long history as a nurturing environment.
Although sometimes the hours spent in class and at extracurricular activities may make the buildings feel like home to students, there was a time when St. Joseph Hall and Benet Hall were home to hundreds of children.
Freshmen Patrick Nemetz, 14, from Naperville, and Caroline Sivik, 14, from Westmont, each have a grandparent who fondly remembers Benet as their childhood home.
The history began in 1899 when the Saint Joseph Bohemian Orphanage was established in a simple wood farmhouse in Lisle on property owned by the Benedictine priory. The orphanage welcomed countless children under the age of 18 who did not have a place to call home. Most had lost one or both parents to illness, divorce or financial hard times, especially during the depression.
As the orphanage grew in numbers, a four-story red brick structure was built in 1910 and 1911 and is today the oldest building at Benet.
A grand tree-lined drive led to the first building with long open porches and steep steps up to its second floor entrance. A breezeway connected the main school building to the next one, constructed in 1919. Together the buildings housed as many as 260 children.
As the campus expanded, boys' and girls' playgrounds and several athletic fields were added. In 1926, a lagoon with a grotto to St. Jude was built on the southwest side of campus. During the winter, the children skated on the pond's ice. Soon after, a new gymnasium became a popular weekend spot for roller-skating, movies and plays.
The orphanage was self-contained and had a chapel, dining halls, laundry, bakery, print shop, barbershop, clinic, dorms and classrooms. A farm on the grounds provided both food and opportunities for chores.
To the children, the orphanage was "home."
Westmont resident Mary Kohs-Nelson says her earliest memories of her life in the orphanage are of lying in her crib and of eating bread with molasses on it.
"I remember being on a stage and needing to do my best because there was an audience," she said. "I also remember running up and down hills as we played, and once standing in a corner because I broke a plate."
Later when Kohs-Nelson was adopted and attended a school in Chicago, the Benedictine nuns taught her once again.
"It was a good feeling," Kohs-Nelson said. "I never felt neglected. Whenever we pass Benet today I say, 'There's my home; this is where I came from.' I am so proud that my granddaughter, Caroline, is going to Benet."
The religious nuns of Sacred Heart Monastery cared for and taught the children at the orphanage. From 1942 to '47, and then seven additional summers, Sister Rosalie Marie Major cared for 54 little girls aged 5 to 9. She also taught third and fourth grade and folk dancing.
"I prepared all their clothing and at about 8 p.m. we'd all say a prayer together every night," Sister Rosalie said. "I took such pride in those girls with their little socks and ribbons in their hair; they looked so cute. On visiting day, I'd curl everyone's hair, too."
The experience Gus Nilles, a Lockport resident, had at St. Joseph's was from 1930 to 1935 beginning when he was 6 years old. His mother was a single mom going to nursing school with no family support.
"It was important to my dad that both he and his sister, Claire, were together," said Gus's daughter, Mary Nemetz. "He remembers his chores like cleaning the silverware, and trying to avoid the forks that were harder to clean. His sister was responsible for darning socks."
Prayer was an important part of life in the orphanage. The children attended daily Mass.
"My father always felt very nurtured at the orphanage and was so grateful to the Benedictines," Nemetz said. "It played such an important part of shaping my dad's life and his amazing faith. He appreciated everything. He was so excited when his grandson Patrick decided to go to Benet."
Theresa Stava was 3-years-old when she and her older brother, Joseph, came to the orphanage in 1933. She remembers she couldn't wait to hear the story of a saint that her religion teacher read each day.
"At Christmas, it was a big doing when the Knights of Columbus came with a toy and piece of clothing for each of us," Stave said. "I remember they would have a paper plate with all kinds of goodies on it for each of us."
Stava said she remembers one time yelling across the field to her brother to let him know that the candy store was open and hoping he had a few pennies to buy both a treat. She was always charmed by the dollhouse in her kindergarten classroom, which was to look at but not touch. As the years passed, Stava enjoyed playing clarinet in the school band.
After graduation, Stava enrolled in the Sacred Heart boarding high school across the street with the help of Catholic Charities. Eventually, she joined the Benedictine nuns at Sacred Heart Monastery. Today, Sister DePaul Stava keeps a scrapbook of photos of her St. Joseph memories.
The orphanage closed in 1956 when institutional living arrangements were falling out of favor and individual foster homes gained popularity. St. Procopius Academy for boys moved into the buildings from its location on the present Benedictine University campus. Sacred Heart Academy for girls at the convent eventually joined St Procopius and merged to form the Catholic coeducational high school, Benet Academy, in 1967.
It is a school experience rich in tradition at making each person feel like family.