2012 Legacy Award Recipients

Join us as we congratulate the 2012 Lakeview Legacy Award Recipients!

Mr. Boden Silberg

High School Senior Legacy Award

His mother calls Bo a "gentle giant", but opposing linemen would likely differ in their assessment of her definition of "gentle". Voted by his Rosemount teammates as Best Lineman and Football Player of the Year, Bo earned those accolades through hard work, determination, and focus—and by wreaking havoc in the opposing football team's backfield.

Yet, even as he intends to pursue playing football at a collegiate level, Bo possesses a passion for helping others rarely seen in a young man his age. In addition to holding down a part time job, he regularly volunteers at the Lewis House for abused women and children, where through simple acts of kindness he finds joy in turning frowns into smiles and replacing fear with trust. That spirit of compassion has led him to choose a career in nursing that he will pursue next fall as a freshman at Jamestown College in Jamestown, ND.

In many ways, his family dynamics have played a major role in his decision to become a nurse. By caring for his stepfather of fifteen years, a double amputee in a wheelchair, Bo has gained a deep appreciation of both the demands and the rewards of ensuring the well-being of others. As might be expected from such a humble young man, he credits his mother for being his role model as she leads by example in her daily life.

Bo's contributions to his school and community are many—National Honor Society community outreach, football and basketball youth camp volunteer, Breast Cancer 3-Day—all while working, volunteering, and taking college preparatory classes while maintaining a high GPA. Above all, though, he lives his life with kindness, which, in his words "is the simple thread necessary to heal a broken spirit."

Linda Peterson

Business Manager Legacy Award

In 1992 Linda Peterson was facing some grim life circumstances—no health insurance, no life insurance, and a stage four melanoma diagnosis for her husband, Mike. Instead of retreating into self pity, however, they sold everything they had and used the proceeds to open Beau Monde Salon so that they could pay their bills. Today, that courageous gamble that began with five people in 1,280 square feet now occupies some 6,300 square feet and employs nearly 100 independent contractors. Along the way, our community has been enriched and strengthened because of Linda's survival instinct.

Ultimately, though, Linda's decision to open Beau Monde Salon wasn't only about paying the bills. She chose her career because she believes that with touch comes positive change, and along with the medical profession the beauty industry is one of only a few licensed to touch people. For Linda, her business isn't only about making men and women look better, but rather it is about making positive changes in the lives of both her salon's clients and the people who choose to work there.

Her desire to make positive changes in lives extends far beyond Beau Monde. She has raised money for Special Olympics, Sclera derma, Whole Learning School, Down Syndrome Association, American Cancer Society, St. Josephs Children's Home, St. Thomas Academy, and Toys for Tots, to name just a few. In fact, her $1,000 Legacy Award contribution will go to support Mary Jo Copeland's Caring and Sharing Hands as well as Feed my Starving Children.

Undoubtedly, Linda's giving spirit is in response to the blessings she has enjoyed since that courageous decision in 1992. Today, her husband Mike is healthy and active as a general contractor, and together they have raised two children—Sam, a senior at Eastview High School and Austin, a junior at St. Thomas Academy. But to Linda, her family extends to some 100 people who consider Beau Monde Salon their work home and about whom she says, "We are one BIG family that supports each other."

Ed Delmoro

Citizen/Volunteer Legacy Award

After retiring from a 42 year career in sales for the Soo Line Railroad in 1995, Ed Delmoro essentially began a new career in public service that in many ways has literally shaped the present and future of the City of Burnsville.

Ed created the Burnsville holiday lighting event and for 13 years has raised over $30,000 annually to sustain it, and 14 years ago brought the Saturday morning farmers' market to Burnsville. For these and other commitments to the city's betterment, he has been awarded three Community Builders Awards by the City of Burnsville. Naturally, this civic service does not go unnoticed by other community groups who have solicited and benefited from Ed's civic mindedness, including the Heart of the City design-review committee, Burnsville Community Foundation, American Legion Youth Baseball Association-191, and Fairview Ridges Ambassadors.

But Ed's civic involvement is only one side of this multi-dimensional man. His hobbies include cooking (ask him about his grandchildrens' birthday cakes), music, antiques, genealogy, and dancing, where he has most recently begun to learn salsa dancing. To know Ed is to understand that he loves people, starting with his own family. Ed's wife of 41 years, Linda, died of ALS in 2007, and it is in her memory that his $1,000 Legacy Award contribution will be made to the ALS Association. In Ed's words, "if everyone could have a marriage like ours was, there would be no divorces." Together, Ed and Linda raised three daughters, each of whom are married and have blessed him with eight grandchildren.

In this phase of his life, Ed feels it is incumbent upon him to mentor and encourage younger people to get involved and share their talents with others. However, he has no intentions of backing away from his service to community and states "in a nutshell, I plan to just keep doing what I'm doing!"

We're all better off because of it.