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MASSARO: 'Walking saint' has volunteered for 52 years at youth home

By Gary Massaro, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published February 14, 2008 at 12:30 a.m.

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Pete Zarlengo stands in the chapel at the Mount St. Vincent Home in north Denver on Wednesday. For five decades, he has volunteered at the place he called home as a child. "I see kids that need help in life," Zarlengo, 82, said. "So I try to help."

Photo by Dennis Schroeder / The Rocky

Pete Zarlengo stands in the chapel at the Mount St. Vincent Home in north Denver on Wednesday. For five decades, he has volunteered at the place he called home as a child. "I see kids that need help in life," Zarlengo, 82, said. "So I try to help."

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You measure diamonds by hardness. But Pete Zarlengo's such a gem you have to measure him by softness.

"He's a walking saint and doesn't even know it," said Sister Amy Willcott, director of Mount St. Vincent Home, a north Denver refuge for troubled youth.

The home is 125 years old this year. Zarlengo, 82, has spent about half that time there, first as a resident, then as a volunteer.

He entered the home when he was 2. His mother, Maria, had died of pneumonia. And his father, Antonio, couldn't provide for Pete, his brother and sister on $15 a month, his salary when he was working.

He lived at the home 10 years, moved on to live with his father at age 12, moved out to live in with neighbors and joined the Navy in 1943.

He has been a volunteer at the home for 52 years - fixing everything from door hinges to boilers at all hours.

"I'll never repay them for the life they've given me," he said.

Mount St. Vincent, 4159 Lowell Blvd., is a nonprofit run by the Sisters of Charity of Leavenworth, Kan.

The home started as an orphanage, taking in children who had lost their parents or whose parents couldn't afford to feed them, like Zarlengo. So some stayed a short time until their families could get back on their feet.

Nowadays, the home has a residential program for 44 young people. Some kids have severe emotional problems. Some have been abused. There are day students as well. And there is transitional housing for those almost ready to rejoin their families.

The home will observe its 125th birthday with a Mass at noon Friday followed by an open house from 1-4 p.m.

Nuns kept meticulous records of those who had lived in the home. Their names are printed in ink in a leather-bound book. Zarlengo's name appears in the middle, showing he entered in 1927.

"About eight years ago, I saw my name for the first time," he said. "I'm still proud to have it there. I'm grateful that the three of us, with no mother, were able to come here and have a life."

He was at Omaha Beach on D-Day. He was a member of the engine crew that worked to keep the landing craft running. Zarlengo and his shipmates did just that, until an enemy shell took them out of action.

After the war, he worked in Greenland. He took up trade as an electrician, made a side trip to Chicago to meet his grandmother and aunt, who had wanted to adopt him after his mom died but were rebuffed by his father.

He met a woman, married and moved to Arvada in 1955. She left him. So he raised his seven children mostly by himself.

In 1970, he bought a farm in Henderson, a dream that began when he was at Mount St. Vincent. He had a full-time job with Centric Elevator Co. He still works for them, and thanks them profusely for letting him have time off to help at the home.

"He's a good kid," said longtime friend Duke LaConte, who at 85 is Zarlengo's senior.

Through his life, Zarlengo has always reached out to help youngsters. He had 14 foster kids when he was younger.

Now, he sponsors 21 other foster kids in Asia, Africa, South America, the Caribbean and Eastern Europe.

"Not only God, but the nuns have given me a life," he said. "I see kids that need help in life. So I try to help."

He has a smile that's always there, even when you ask him what keeps him coming back after a really tough day.

"In my heart, I want to help children," he said. "As rough as it gets, it can't be as rough as these kids have it."

massarog@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-5271