There are many paths to Santiago De Compostela, across the coastal mountains of northern Spain. Les Pierce '68 took the oldest and most difficult route.
In 2013, Pierce and two Dutch friends walked 200 miles along The El Camino, which translates to "The Way. " It is an ancient pilgrimage that leads to the purported burial site of the Apostle St. James in Santiago.
There are at least nine El Camino routes originating from points all over Europe, but Pierce and his fellow pilgrims (peregrinos) took the less-traveled path, El Camino Primitivo (The Primitive, or Original, Way.)
Starting out in Oveido, near the north central coast of Spain, the El Camino Primitivo follows the original path of King Alfonso II of Asturias, who made his pilgrimage in the ninth century in order to visit the recently proclaimed burial site of St. James.
Today, 1,200 years after Alfonso II made his pilgrimage, more than 200,000 people annually walk one of routes that lead to Santiago, which is near the eastern coast. Fewer than 2 percent of these peregrinos follow El Camino Primitivo.
"We wanted to take the most difficult route, the oldest route and the route with the fewest people," Pierce said of his 15-day journey, which included nights spent in government-sponsored hostels along the way. "It's a challenging route, but on a more personal level, it allowed me to reflect on my life; what is has been, where it is now, and where I want it to go."
And while people walk El Camino paths for many different reasons, Pierce's walk was a deep personal experience. "I was able to disconnect from almost everything," he said. "I had a lot of time to reflect and do a lot of thinking. It was very introspective."
Pierce graduated from St. Ambrose with his degree in political science and history. He credits the SAU curriculum and philosophy for providing an intellectual and spiritual foundation upon which rests his world view.
"One of the professors at St. Ambrose, Matthew McMahon, had a profound impact on how I think, not what I think," Pierce said. "He opened up to me a world of discovery I had never seen before."
After St. Ambrose, Pierce went on to the University of Chicago and a Masters of Liberal Arts degree. Today, after a successful career in the oil and gas pipeline industry, Pierce considers his St. Ambrose experience fundamental to who he is and how he conducted his business and his life.
"My world view is that we are part of a family on this planet," Pierce said. "One of my philosophies is that business is not conducted solely between businesses. It is conducted between people with a common goal and an ethical approach to meet their needs."
Pierce's devotion to St. Ambrose was passed along to two of his children-Matthew Pierce '97, '99 MBA and Sarah (Pierce) Muntz '00. "With the help of my wife, we are already prepping the grandchildren for St. Ambrose," he said.
His devotion to "The Way" is reflected in his plans to repeat an El Camino pilgrimage in 2016, in the company of Matthew and his son-in-law Jeffrey Muntz '00.
-by Steven Lillybeck
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