By A.M. Kelley
Superior Catholic Herald

School superintendent returns to her roots

SUPERIOR -- Diocese of Superior superintendent of schools Phyllis Schlagel often has memorable birthdays.

On her 21st birthday, Aug. 14, 1962, she was hard at work in the laundry of the St. Scholastica Monastery in Duluth, Minn. Her mother had traveled from the family's dairy farm near Pine City, Minn., with a birthday cake and a dozen red roses. But mother and daughter didn't see each other because Schlagel -- then Phyllis Haberman -- was a member of the Benedictine order and birthday visits were not allowed.

It was a very hot day and she was given the cake to share with her fellow sisters. They sat outside on a hill behind the laundry for the treat. The roses are another story. Because it was the day before the feast of the Assumption, the flowers were put to use in the chapel.

"I only had them in my hands for five minutes," she said, "and they were whisked off to the Blessed Mother. I should have been happy about it, but I wasn't."

Schlagel admits that the unhappiness lingered for many years. Meanwhile, her life went on. She was assigned to work in the kitchen of a residence facility. Untrained as a cook, her efforts created memorable disasters: badly cooked bacon and burnt butterscotch pudding. No injuries were reported and she learned enough to be asked to cook for two summers at a residential treatment center for youth.

She studied during the school year and became a teacher. Her first teaching assignment was in Aiken, Minn., in what had once been the home of a lumber baron. The building contained both the school and convent.

"The school and family life were mixed," she said.

She describes this period of her life and work as "a very rich time." But still, she left the Benedictines when she was 28.

"I felt like I needed to be loved," she said. "I suppose I was, but didn't know it. I just wasn't where I was supposed to be."

On her 31st birthday she was at the right place at the right time. She and her mother were dining at the Duluth Hotel -- now called the Greysolon Plaza -- when a handsome fellow passed by the table and struck up a conversation.

The fellow, Bob Schlagel, was a telephone worker from Marshall in southwest Minnesota and was staying in Duluth for Northwestern Bell Telephone training. He was also a widower.

"The Lord sent you to me," she said to him during an interview last week in their Superior home.

Bob Schlagel claims a less ethereal reason for being in the hotel that evening.

"I went to Mass," he said, "then stopped for a beer."

By God or by beer, they connected and were married 10 months later.

"I met my mother-in-law and my wife at the same time," he said.

The Schlagels set up housekeeping in Marshall where Bob worked and was the town's mayor for 15 years. Schlagel's daughter from his first marriage, Cathy, was a teenager, and the couple had two children of their own, Julie and Bob.

Phyllis Schlagel said she spent the next years learning to be a mother. It was her habit to rise early in the morning to have solitary prayer time. And one morning, nearly 25 years after the fact, she realized that she was still brooding about the red roses she never received on her 21st birthday. With no else in the room, she felt a tap on her shoulder and received this message: "The gift I gave you was much greater than the gift you gave me."

The long-held resentment vanished.

"I knew the 'gift' was my husband," she said.

When her children were older and in school, she was ready to work outside the home and became a Realtor.

"I once sold a farm in red high-heels," she said.

Her business experience with bankers and attorneys eventually led her to do service on the Holy Redeemer Parish -- the Schlagels' home parish -- finance council, the first woman ever in that position. Next, because of her background as a teacher, she took over as principal at Holy Redeemer School after earning a master's degree in administration from what was then Mankato State University.

In 1991, Bob, who is 11 years his wife's senior, was getting ready to retire after 40 years with the phone company. Phyllis applied for and was hired as superintendent for the Diocese of Superior. The couple bought a home on Amnicon Lake, south of Superior, and later moved into Superior.

For almost 15 years Schlagel has cared for 16 diocesan schools in 12 counties. Much of that time has been on the road logging as many as 1,000 miles a week. She's ready for a change.

"I'm not ready to retire," she said. "I have my mind, heart, soul and strength, but I'm ready to not be on the road two or three times a week."

So she opened her eyes to new possibilities and an opportunity came knocking. She was offered the job as principal of St. Mary School with a student population of 85. The school is part of Immaculate Conception Parish in Pine City, Minn., the parish where Schlagel received her childhood religious education. She's come full circle.

"For everything there's a season," she said. "I believe I've done everything I can do here (as superintendent). It's time to let younger people vision where they're going."

This year on Aug. 14 she'll celebrate her 65th birthday on her home turf. Her brother still lives on the Haberman family farm. It's a part of the state she said is famous with farmers for its "hills, rocks and swamps."

The Schlagels' children are divided between Marshall, Minn., and Superior. Pine City is the midpoint.

"It's home for me and half way between our kids," she said. "You have to follow the Holy Spirit.

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© Superior Catholic Herald, 2006