Sam was about 14 years old when Giovanni died and he
went to work. The other three children (Louie was 3yrs
old, Victoria was 2yrs old, and John was a newborn) were
taken to a boarding school in St. Albert run by the Grey
Nuns. John was kept in a ward for babies at the
Misericordia Hospital until he was old enough to be
moved to the school with his siblings.
Their education was paid by the Canadian Patriotic
Fund because their father was in the army. Louie is
sorry today that they did not keep the Italian names
they had been christened with.
In 1927 Louie attended St. John's College on the south
side of Edmonton, where he learned French and became
bilingual. He graduated from the college in 1934, and
started to think about entering the priesthood. He joined the Mission of the Oblates through St. Joseph's
Parish, spending three years in Rome, where he attended the
Angelico and Gregorian University. It was there that he finally
learned to speak Italian.
When their Father died, Louie's older brother had to
quit school and start work in order to support the
family.
Church was facilitated by a Father Louis Culerier
(known throughout the Coal Branch as Father
Louis).
Luigi Del Bosco's family was from the same area of
Italy as Louie's family, and were close with his mother.
After Luigi took the kids to the St. Albert boarding
school, he visited them often. Louie's older brother Sam
was working most of the time, so he was unable to visit
as often as he would have liked.
Growing up in the boarding school was not ideal, but
under the circumstances Louie says "it could have
been worse." Louie explains that a routine day
started with mass, going to classes, and working on the
farm.
At the boarding school Louie was only allowed to see
his sister on special occasions, and even then only with
permission. Louie says that the nuns didn't take any
time to foster the children's emotional needs. Louie
felt like part of a herd of sheep or something.
Louie remembers going to school with the Sartor
children. He remembers that the French children were
given special treatment, and that Indian children were
not allowed to eat and sleep in the same room. They did
go to classes together though.
In later years Louie used to do errands for the nuns.
He remembers going to the Post Office in St. Albert. An
Italian consular agent, Mr. DeAngelis, used to check on
Louie and his siblings regularly because there had been
some property left in their names in Italy. Mr. Losa
eventually took over that job.
Louie was about 13 years old when he left to go to St.
John's College, where he was schooled in Latin and
Greek. His younger brother and sister stayed in St.
Albert.