Dalia Slenys, founder of Lemont museum, dies at 80

Dalia Slenys always possessed a deep love for her Lithuanian culture as well as a strong pull to contribute to her community. In 1988, she combined both passions and founded the Lithuanian Museum of Art in Lemont.

With its start in the basement of the Lithuanian World Center, the museum grew under her 27 years of leadership and cultivation to become a 6,000-square-foot building with about a thousand pieces of her home country’s artistry.

“Today, our mission remains the same — to promote the Lithuanian art and culture and that includes art, concerts, music events, theater, poetry readings,” the museum’s current director, Aspa Zimkus, said. “Last year we had 10,000 visits to the museum, and that’s a result of her hard work through the years.”

Mrs. Slenys, 80, of Lemont, died Sept. 16 at Lemont Nursing and Rehabilitation Center of congestive heart failure.

Born an only child in Kaunas, Lithuania, Mrs. Slenys fled her homeland with her parents in 1944 and was housed in the U.S. Zone of Occupation in Germany where she attended high school. In 1950, the family immigrated to Chicago, and she finished her education at a private Catholic high school. The family moved from Bridgeport to Lemont in the late 1950s.

A ceramic artist, Mrs. Slenys went onto study at the Art Institute of Chicago and at the Vogue Design School.

After her she completed her education, Mrs. Slenys worked until her retirement as an executive secretary for the president of the Associated Cotton Shops, a chain of women’s clothing stores.

She always remained active in her community and assisted with the Lithuanian Sea Scouts, a youth group, where she met her husband, Liudas. The couple married in 1975 and remained in Lemont.

In the late 1980s, a former seminary in Lemont was converted into the Lithuanian World Center, and it remains a hub for the area’s Lithuanian community and houses more than 40 organizations.

“But the largest is the one started in the basement by Dalia,” Zimkus said.

With a group of her friends, Mrs. Slenys and her husband began renovating the basement of the building. Slowly they started to hold art exhibitions by area artists.

“This was an avocation,” Robert Vitas, a relative of Mrs. Slenys and chairman of the board of the museum, said. “She received no money for it … that was her passion.”

Zimkus said artists were drawn to Mrs. Slenys because of her encouragement and knowledge of the art scene. In return, they were gracious to her, and everyone who had an exhibit at the museum was asked to leave one or two pieces for the collection.

“She was a phenomenal personality and the most elegant lady who was always sharp and witty,” Zimkus said. “People were drawn to her. She loved what she was doing and spent hours and hours collecting the art, creating the exhibitions and renovating the place — and she knew the artist’s soul.”

Mrs. Slenys is survived by her husband.

Visitation will be held from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at Petkus Lemont Funeral Home, 12401 Archer Ave., Lemont. Services will begin at 9:30 a.m. Saturday at the funeral home, followed by a 10 a.m. Mass at Blessed Jurgis Matulaitis Mission, 14911 W. 127th St., Lemont.

Patricia Trebe is a freelance reporter.