I Want to Give Back

June 1, 2024

Leo Chisholm, a Knight of Columbus for 64 years and counting, looks back on his life of service

By Leo Chisholm

June 1, 2024

Chisholm, a Knight since 1960, sits at his home in Osage, Iowa. (Photo by Spirit Juice Studios)

One evening in the fall of 1985, Leo and Elsie Chisholm were driving back to their home in Iowa when they spotted a car in ditch, a woman pinned inside. Leo rushed down and helped the woman out of the car and up the embankment. Just moments later the car exploded.

“You do these things without even thinking,” Leo later said. “You can’t stand there; you’ve just got to do it.”

The rescue earned Leo Chisholm an award for valor from Iowa’s governor. Countless, somewhat less dramatic, acts of charity have marked his long life as a husband, father and Knight of Columbus. The 93-year-old district deputy, a past grand knight of Sacred Heart Council 4308 in Osage, recently reflected on his service to the Order and his community in an interview for the K of C video series Everyday Heroes, from which the following account is adapted.

*****

I grew up on a 320-acre farm west of Osage, Iowa, the fourth of eight children. We had a strict religious upbringing: Mass every Sunday, holy days, abide by all the rules of the Church. And the way Dad and Mom raised us back then, when somebody had problems or needed help, your family went over and did something.

I was 12 when my dad died at age 42, and my mom was pregnant at the time. For the next six years I helped support my family working in a poultry processing plant. I joined the Navy in 1948 at age 18, and was stationed at Pearl Harbor and later in California. Two years later I was discharged and met my future wife, Elsie, at a basketball game in Mason City, Iowa. After the game, they had a dance at my parish, Holy Family. We were married four years later at St. Joseph Church in Mason City on Aug. 16, 1954.

LEADERSHIP AND CHARITY

I never completed high school, but eventually went to night school and junior college. Then, in 1960, I graduated from the University of Minnesota with a degree in mortuary science and ran my own funeral home in Iowa for 13 years. I loved that work because it involved showing compassion to people. I also ran an ambulance service and a furniture store.

It was also in 1960 that I joined Sacred Heart Council 4308 in Osage. Grand Knight Al Alexander explained to me what the Order was all about, and I thought, “Hey, this is an organization I’d like to belong to.” I eventually served as grand knight in the late 1970s, and as district deputy in the early 1980s.

One of Osage’s most successful charitable initiatives began on Thanksgiving Day in 1983. No restaurants, grocery stores or anything were open in town. I went by the old Bloxham Hotel, and there were five or six guys standing out in front. And I thought, “What are these guys going to eat? Where are they going to eat?” I was overwhelmed by the awful loneliness I saw on those men’s faces, the loneliness that I knew must be lurking behind many closed doors. I came home and I told Elsie, and she said, “Don’t tell me what you’re going to do — please, I know what’s going to happen.” And she was right.

Beginning in 1984, for 13 years, we hosted a free Thanksgiving dinner at the Knights of Columbus hall for those who would be alone on that day, such as widows and widowers. With the help of the other churches in the community, we served 250-300 people a lot of times. I had all my kids involved and they learned a little lesson in giving to the world. We were recognized in Columbia for our work.

“My advice to a young Knight is this: Volunteer. Get involved. Don’t sit back and wait for somebody else. And be honest, sincere and compassionate. It’s just a matter of showing a little love in this world.”

Then, in 1985, I wanted to find out what people in Mitchell County who had applied for food stamps did for food while they waited for the stamps. It turns out they had to wait about six weeks. So I thought we ought to get together and buy some food, and if somebody needed it, we’d give it to them.

We got 15 people — one person from every town and from every church — to make up the board of directors of the Mitchell County Food Bank. I served as the executive director for 35 years, and during that time we gave over 1.25 million meals to those in need in Mitchell County.

In the early 2000s, I became very involved with the American Cancer Society. Only a few years later, in 2004, I was diagnosed with melanoma on my neck, a deadly one, which was moving toward my voice box.

As I was lying in that hospital bed, I promised God that if he didn’t take my voice box, I’d become a spokesman for the Cancer Society. I should have said once every two months or something — not every day, like I have been doing 20 years now! But in that time, I served six years on the Society’s leadership and advisory council for the state of Iowa and the Midwest region, and I’ve raised over a million dollars through Relay for Life and other fundraisers.

‘I’VE BEEN GIVEN SO MUCH’

I never have a bad day. Some days might be a little better, but never a truly bad one. But you have to set your mind to it. And you can’t get through life without prayer. I say two rosaries every morning. And, every night, if you don’t thank God for what he gave you, then, boy, don’t go to bed. You’ve got to thank him every day. And when you get up in the morning, say, “Thank you,” for living through the night, and, “OK, what can I do today, now, to help somebody?”

That’s my mission: I want to help somebody. I’ve been given so much; why wouldn’t you give back? My advice to a young Knight is this: Volunteer. Get involved. Don’t sit back and wait for somebody else. And be honest, sincere and compassionate. It’s just a matter of showing a little love in this world.

Iowa State Deputy John McGee presents Leo Chisholm with the District Deputy of the Year Award at the state convention April 13. (Photo courtesy of Leo Chisholm)

I like to say you can either be a duck or an eagle. Do you want to be a duck and just sit in that water all day and paddle and squawk and not do anything? You’re not going to get far. I would prefer to be an eagle — take off, fly high, see the beauty of this world.

And I like to stay active. It’s good for the mind, the heart and the body. I’ve been fortunate. I don’t feel like I’m in my 90s. I feel like I’m about 65 or 70. I really do. Last year at the Mayo Clinic, where I go for checkups, a nurse came out and said, “Are you Leo Chisholm?” I said, “Yes.” She said, “I was looking for an old man in a wheelchair. Are you 92?” I replied, “Yes, I am.” She said, “I can’t believe it.”

I’ve been a Knight now for 60-something years. I’ve recruited nearly 150 members for the Knights of Columbus over the years, and I started five new councils. I was named top district deputy in Iowa in 1981, and again this fraternal year. I was inducted into the Iowa Volunteer Hall of Fame in 2013 and the Iowa Knights of Columbus Hall of Fame in 2021.

My greatest accomplishment, though, was being married to my wife for over 67 years. She was my partner; we did everything together. Because of her I’m here today. I loved her dearly. And we have a wonderful family — three children, six grandchildren and 14 great-grandchildren. I cannot complain about anything. I have been blessed with a wonderful life, and I just want to keep giving back.

Adam Parzuchowski, 21, stands at the site where he rescued a man from a burning vehicle in June.

I Want to Give Back

LEADERSHIP AND CHARITY

‘I’VE BEEN GIVEN SO MUCH’

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