By Kim McDarison
A book about the history of St. Coletta, Jefferson, featuring the institution’s storied history and achievements, has been released, according to its author, Christina Goldstone.
The book is titled: “Leading with their Hearts: the story of St. Coletta of Wisconsin.”
Goldstone, who is a resident of Washington state and the mother of a St. Coletta resident, responding to questions by email, told Fort Atkinson Online that she wrote the book after experiencing first-hand the quality of life provided by the organization through her daughter, Daniela, who has been a resident at St. Coletta since 2015.
“St. Coletta has changed her life beyond measure,” Goldstone wrote in her email, the details of which, she said, she has described in her book.
Additionally, she wrote: “St. Coletta’s incredible history fascinated me from the moment we walked through their doors. I knew I wanted to dig deeper into their history and, after being even more inspired by early research, then decided to write the book knowing that many others would be inspired as well.”
After completing the book, which took four years to write, Goldstone said, she decided to offer the book to St. Coletta as a means through which to raise both awareness and funds for the organization.
Goldstone wrote: “I could never have written this book for financial gains. The organization has given so much to Daniela and my family and the book was my small effort to give back to help them continue their mission. I was also hoping the interest generated in St. Coletta by my book would inspire donations and increased government funding for clients with disabilities, which has been stagnant for a number of years and has presented financial challenges for St. Coletta and many other nonprofits working with individuals with disabilities.”
The book, which is available both in hardcover and paperback, is published by St. Coletta and was released in July.
The 221-page work features research, stories and interviews, along with nearly 60 photos documenting life at St. Coletta, and includes a forward written by St. Coletta President Ted Behncke.
Goldstone said she researched St. Coletta through newspaper archives, disability history articles, videos and books, and previous writings and books from the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi, who founded the organization in 1904.
“I also did a number of interviews with some of the sisters, staff and families. The book focuses on St. Coletta’s evolution from 1904 to the present,” Goldstone said.
Goldstone said a majority of the photos shared within the book came from St. Coletta, including historical photos from the early 1900s.
“They have a talented photographer, Noah Smith, on staff. St. Coletta was completely supportive of my book project and helped in every way possible to make it as complete and accurate as possible,” she said.
Information provided in a press release about the book notes that St. Coletta has been involved locally, statewide and nationally in advocating for individuals with disabilities and their families.
Its “reputation is internationally known and respected, winning many accolades and awards. Jefferson (Wis.) and its citizens are widely featured in the book. Without the community’s longtime involvement and support, the organization would never have survived its many challenges over the years. The clients, staff and volunteers are an integral part of the local community,” the release stated.
Since its inception, St. Coletta has been a vital organization, which provides life-changing day and residential supports to many adults with disabilities, the release continued, adding that the institution began in 1904 as a pioneering school for children with developmental and intellectual disabilities.
Information about the book shared on amazon.com notes that the facility began as a small boarding school for children with developmental disabilities.
According to a book description featured on Amazon, “At a time when these children were shunned and discarded by society, the sisters’ dedicated efforts began to change hearts and minds as they proved their students were capable of learning and living dignified lives.”
The description continues: “Teaching children from all faiths, the sisters demonstrated that all of their students could be an integral part of society. They began an academic program suited to each child’s individual needs and strengths.”
Goldstone described experiencing such benefits first-hand, noting that Daniela, 32, arrived in Wisconsin in 2011.
“My family lived in Virginia when Daniela moved to St. Coletta. She moved to Wisconsin in 2011 to attend a post secondary school for students with disabilities and both she, and we, decided that her life in Wisconsin would be fuller — as there were many more opportunities for her — than if she moved back to Virginia after her schooling. We were extremely fortunate to find St. Coletta after another disability community she moved to proved very wrong for Daniela. My husband and I moved to Washington state last year to be near our other daughter,” Goldstone said.
As noted within the Amazon book description, St. Coletta has become well-known across the country, and indeed, the globe, with educational and governmental organizations reaching out for its guidance.
Finding its beginnings as a self-sufficient school with a farm, dairy and bakery, which allowed it to weather the disruptions of the Great Depression and two world wars, the description stated, today, “the sisters traveled to speak at large national and international conferences to promote the rights of these individuals to be educated. The school also developed a special education program for teachers so that private and public schools could teach children with developmental disabilities.
“Realizing that many of their students had nowhere to live after graduation, except for miserable and overcrowded state institutions,” the description continued, “the organization began adult residential and day programs. Rosemary Kennedy, President John F. Kennedy’s sister, joined the community in the 1940s and lived a remarkable life at St. Coletta until her death in 2005.”
A link to the full Amazon book description, with several book pages and the forward made available to readers, is here: https://www.amazon.com/Leading-their-Hearts-Coletta-Wisconsin/dp/B0B6L8WHTK/ref=sr_1_1?crid=MR64078KC2U9&keywords=leading+with+their+hearts+goldstone&qid=1666666100&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=Leading+with+their%2Caps%2C437&sr=8-1.
According a press release, all proceeds from book sales will go directly to St. Coletta so that it can continue its “ever-evolving and groundbreaking mission.”
The book will be available at St. Coletta’s Holiday Open House planned for Dec. 3rd.
The book also is available from St. Coletta at: https://st-coletta-of-wisconsin.myshopify.com/collections/gift-items/products/leading-with- their-hearts-book.
In describing her own journey while writing the book, Goldstone said: “It was challenging, fascinating and inspiring. I consider it one of the achievements I am most proud of in my life.
“I wrote one other book. It was called ‘Come to the Window’ and was published in 1999. It was written about my daughter Daniela’s adoption from an abusive Romanian orphanage when she was a toddler. It focused on the unique challenges of raising a child who had been severely abused and neglected in an institution. All of the profits from that book went to organizations working with abandoned children with disabilities in Romania. I also wrote a number of articles for adoption and disability magazines following the publication of the book and did some public speaking on the subjects of adoption and disability,” Goldstone said.
Christina Goldstone, author of “Leading with their Hearts: the story of St. Coletta of Wisconsin,” at left, and her daughter Daniela, who has been a resident of St. Coletta since 2015, pose for a photograph. Photo contributed by Christina Goldstone.
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