Home / News & Publications / Michigan Catholic News / 2010 / Lea Woll, former director of Retreat Center at St. John’s, dies
Lea Woll, former director of Retreat Center at St. John’s, dies
by Kristin Lukowski of The Michigan Catholic
Published February 12, 2010
DETROIT — Lea Woll, the former director of the Retreat Center at St. John’s, Plymouth Township, died Feb. 4 of cancer at the Life Care Center of Elkhorn in Elkhorn, Neb. She was 68.
Kathy Karabelski, the wedding coordinator for St. John chapel, remembered Woll as a “wonderful, wonderful lady” earlier this week. “She was a breath of fresh air here,” Karabelski said. “She always let us know that she cared about us and was so appreciative of the work that we did in our ministry.”
Karabelski remembered that Woll made every visitor to the retreat center feel welcome by thanking them for being there. She was focused on giving brides and grooms positive experiences at the chapel, while getting them excited about their own Catholicism, she said.
“She had a great spirit about her,” Karabelski said. “She was a person filled with deep faith, and it just was in everything that she did.”
Janet Gruley, the center’s chapel administrator, worked as Woll’s assistant. She agreed that one of Woll’s main concerns was making people feel welcome at the center.
“She gave grace to everybody,” Gruley said. “We’ve had so many compliments (from) people who came here and said hospitality was the reason they came back.”
Gruley also remembered Woll’s prayerful nature and how a weekend retreat for couples preparing for marriage, Covenant Love, became one of the most popular in the archdiocese. Yet, Woll was humble and put others before herself always, she said.
“She was a very good boss,” Gruley said. “We all loved her here.”
Msgr. John Zenz, pastor of Holy Name Parish, Birmingham, who formerly hired and worked with Woll when he served as moderator of the curia, said although she’d already left the diocese due to reorganization, “she will be greatly missed.”
“Lea was a great gift to the archdiocese during her years of service,” he said. “In her quiet but focused and compassionate way, Lea brought together many different people and programs for spiritual growth and renewal. She truly loved St. John’s, and believed in its mission of forming and strengthening individuals, couples and families in their Christian vocation.”
Msgr. Zenz remembered how although she struggled in her battle with cancer, she never lost hope. “She leaves behind the witness of her vision and the way she tried to integrate faith and daily living,” he said. “She was particularly a witness in the way that she accepted the process of dying from cancer.”
She was born Aug. 13, 1941, in Le Mars, Iowa, the daughter of Leonard and Dolores (Hoffmann) Woll. She grew up in Le Mars and graduated from Gehlen Catholic High School in 1959. Lea attended St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kan., prior to entering the Sisters of Christian Charity. Throughout the next several years she taught elementary, high school and at the college level. She continued her education and received several degrees, including a doctorate degree in psychology.
She worked in parish ministry in Chicago and was instrumental in the formation of The Sisters of the Living Word, serving on their leadership team from 1976 to 1982. She then served at Mount Carmel Monastery in Niagara Falls, Canada; in the Diocese of Steubenville, Ohio; in the Archdiocese of Chicago; and in Illinois, in various leadership positions. She came to the Retreat Center at St. John’s in 2005 and served there for four years, during which time she left religious life.
Survivors include her five brothers: twin brother Larry “Butch” (Jeanne) Woll of Le Mars; Paul (Lois) Woll of Worthington, Minn.; Denny (Phyllis) Woll of Le Mars, Ed (Alice) Woll of Omaha; and Mark (Robynne) Woll of Omaha; and many nieces and nephews. She was preceded in death by her parents.
Services were Tuesday in Le Mars, with burial to follow. A local prayer service will be scheduled later, likely in March, for friends and co-workers.
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