My Friend Leo

Over the 36 years I’ve spent here, and I’ve come to know a great many of you. Many, like me, had no intention of coming here until I crossed the bridge, and like you, almost immediately fell in love with this beautiful speck of sand.

I’ve had the privilege to travel around the world on business and a little for pleasure on occasion. However, I’ve always looked forward to coming home to Marco. My favorite hangout in those early days living here full-time was a small waterside restaurant/chickee hut establishment. The bartenders and waitstaff would soon become great friends, and to this day I always enjoy seeing them out and about on the island.

Their children are all grown now, and today have youngsters of their own. It's kind of funny how time slips by us all. However, realization soon settles in when the candles on the occasion birthday cake threaten to burn down the structures that we gather together to celebrate that trip around the sun.

Yes, friendships are important to me and as time goes by I find myself going to more funerals than birthdays, and that is a shame. The column I pen today is to honor a man whom I truly came to appreciate and respect. Some of you, many of you may know him if not personally, but by the short autobiography he penned a number of years ago, that speaks of his own personal journey in life. “The Harder I Worked The Luckier I Got.”

Almost everyone Leo met would leave from that experience with his paperback book thrust into their hands, his contagious Irish smile and a strong handshake from a man they would never forget.

He always told me that he didn’t author his book for personal gain, but to pass on his experiences and  those of his parents who had immigrated here from Sicily in the early 1900s. His parents Vincenzo Sutera and Calogera (Ragusa) settled in the North End of Boston where Leo was born into a very large Italian family.

Anyone who ever met Leo Sutera here on Marco came to marvel at the man and his life’s accomplishments, however, it was Leo’s family, his children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren which he cherished the most and claimed as his crowning achievement. Leo was a devout Catholic, but never wore his religion on his sleeve, but instead in his heart and in his actions.

It didn’t take an individual long to figure out that Leo was a man of action. As an eight-year-old, he’d throw the strap of his shoeshine box over his shoulder and head down to Scollay Square to begin his journey as an entrepreneur, a journey which took him to many success in his lifetime, including his rise to becoming the largest ravioli company in New England.

I met Leo when we first began the challenge of raising the necessary funds to create the Veterans Memorial, which today stands as a testimony to the generosity and patriotism of the residents of this small Southwest Florida community.

When the Marco VFW Post under the leadership of Lee Rubenstein saw an opportunity to bring the Vietnam Wall to Marco Island for the first time, Leo jumped at the chance to be part of that success. When he heard that a large contingent of motorcyclists would help lead that procession down I-75 and onto the island he was as excited as any youngster, imagining the sight of hundreds of these iron horses and the thunder they would bring as they crested the top of the Jolley Bridge.

I’m not sure I had ever seen a grown man’s eyes widen as much as Leo’s when a few weeks before the event I asked him if he wanted to take the ride with us. “You mean on the bike,” asked Leo when I jokingly replied, “No running beside me Leo!” He practically had tears in his eyes, and I never felt so good in my life knowing I had made a difference in his.

I can’t remember whether Leo rode with me on the bike up to the Daniels Parkway Rest Area in Ft. Myers. It was there where we assembled for the 45-mile ride south back to the island as we escorted the Wall. I can tell you without hesitation he was on the back of my bike for the official escort south with a smile that went ear to ear.

Leo’s pride in being part of that ride and receiving his escort pin upon arrival at the Veterans Community Park staging area will always stay with me. He was so proud to be part of that wonderful procession, the crowds lining the highways and stationed on bridges above I-75 and those at the top of the Jolley Bridge all received a wave from that proud American Patriot Leo Sutera.

Our friendship will always live in my heart, and I will always realize I would never have made that connection had it not been for Marco Island. Until we meet again, God Bless you Leo my good friend.