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58 m a s s a g e & b o d y wo r k m a rc h /a p r i l 2 0 2 2 and being with nature. People wanted to hear this new message. There also was the experience the husband-wife team had with the summer health camp scene. Continuing Edmond's summer camps and building on his reputation as an educator seemed to be a path they could navigate in their new world. "We started with a little adobe shack that was used to store hay," Szekely says of the first building at the Rancho La Puerta site they called home. There were no motels or lodgings nearby for students/guests to stay, so the Szekelys began renting pieces of land where guests could pitch a tent. And people came, not only to learn from Edmond, but to be part of this magical spot. "There was a river, a creek, and a mountain, and we used all three," Szekely says. The mountain—Mount Kuchumaa— is considered sacred by the Kumeyaay tribe. Szekely thinks the mountain was part of what called her and Edmond there. "I think Mount Kuchumaa was bored and there we were. There's so much magic there," she says. "In the river, you walked in water that was about 18 inches deep, and you walked almost a mile every day—it was really a health routine. We had everybody bring tennis shoes, so that you didn't get any tootsie problems, and they walked in the river. Then we had the creek, where we made small pools where you could have a bathtub. We had somebody who would dig out the sand every morning, and you had an ice-cold bathtub in the creek. We didn't have any equipment or anything, so we developed what we had—a mountain to climb, the river to walk in, and the creek to bathe in." And at 4:00 p.m. each day, Edmond would lecture under the large oak trees. As part of the payment for their stay, guests would help with chores around the property. "You would pay $17.50 a week for food and board, but you worked two and a half hours a day." Szekely says there was no staff to do the chores; it was up to her and the guests to get the work done. "The guests did gardening, they did kitchen work, they did everything." And in return, they got to walk into a different lifestyle. "The guests didn't want to leave," she says. When the war ended, Szekely says they were welcomed back to England. But they made the decision to stay put. After five years of investing in their little piece of heaven, they didn't want to start over again. "And besides, we loved Mexico. The people were just so welcoming and went out of their way to help us. We wouldn't trade Mexico for any other country in the world," Szekely says. As their business continued to grow, they would purchase abandoned homes and bits and pieces of land. The Szekelys were innovative in how they built their little oasis. "One year I bought 30 war surplus boxes that had been created to ship airplane engines, and they were the wrong size. These became our first cabins." It was a lot of trial and error. "And so we were, little by little, growing but still very simple." Was this like the early spa/sanitarium movements of Dr. John Kellogg and others? With a small smile, Szekely says, "They were beautifully civilized. We were a commune." Szekely says it took a number of years before they could relax and think about what was next. "But when the war ended and when we decided to stay, that commitment was a turning point. Until then, we were camping out and having a good time. We had nothing to lose." AND THEN CAME GOLDEN DOOR With their success came new opportunities. After 17 years of marriage, Szekely wanted children, but Edmond was concerned about her being in Mexico if something happened to him. Even divorced for 10 years before Edmond's passing in 1979, Szekely still speaks sweetly of "the professor" and there is no ill will when she remembers their time building their businesses. "The decision was, if I want to have kids, we had to have a business in the United States. Well, the only business I knew was running a spa. I started at 17, and here we were 17 years later. And so we started with a motel with eight rooms in Escondido, California. And the motel was a little spot on the highway with The Spas She Built Winning every award there is from the spa and travel industry, Deborah Szekely is responsible for two coveted spa properties: • Rancho La Puerta, a 4,000-acre wellness resort in Tecate, Baja California, Mexico, just south of San Diego, where Szekely and her husband Edmond first put down roots in 1940. The Szekelys' daughter, Sarah Livia Szekely Brightwoood, serves as president of the family business and continues the Szekely legacy there today. • Golden Door, a Zen-garden- inspired luxury resort and spa in Escondido, California. It was created as an upscale alternative to Rancho La Puerta by the Szekelys in 1958 to meet the growing needs of Hollywood elite who wanted a more private setting for their fitness goals. The family sold Golden Door in 1998. Deborah Szekely with her daughter Sarah Livia Szekely Brightwood, who presides over the family business as president.