Sister Jean Orsuto, H.M., the former Lauretta Jean Orsuto and formerly Sister M. Donald, 78, died Sunday, April 14, 2024, at Mercy Health St. Elizabeth Youngstown Hospital.
She graduated from Saint John High School in Ashtabula in 1963 and entered the Sisters of the Humility of Mary later that year from Mt. Carmel Parish (now Our Lady of Peace Parish). She professed her perpetual vows in 1971.
Sister Jean ministered in health care as a nurse for 42 years in the Cleveland, Youngstown, Pittsburgh and Duluth dioceses and the Archdiocese of Cincinnati, and passed on her knowledge to the next generation of nurses as an instructor at the former St. Elizabeth Hospital School of Nursing in Youngstown. She gave board service to a number of organizations including serving as vice chair of the board of Catholic Health Partners. Later she chaired the board of Catholic Health Partners’ public juridic person, which was called Partners in Catholic Health Ministries.
For 20 years Sister Jean dedicated herself to serving the poor in Trumbull County as executive director of Emmanuel Community Care Center in Girard, Ohio, a program of Humility of Mary Housing. She felt it was her privilege to minister to those who were vulnerable, and she was recognized for this work in 2023 when she received a Voice of Hope award from Catholic Charities of the Youngstown diocese. Following her retirement from Emmanuel last year, she offered her caring attention to her Humility of Mary Sisters as a volunteer with the Villa Transportation Office. She was celebrating her 60th jubilee as a Sister of the Humility of Mary at the time of her death.
The daughter of the late Donald and Maggie (Roberts) Orsuto and sister of the late Arlene Jacobs and George Roberts, she is survived by her sister Donna Orsuto, her cousins and their families, and her sisters in the Humility of Mary Congregation with whom she shared her life for 61 years.
The funeral will be Friday, April 19 at 10:30 a.m. at Villa Maria Chapel, in Villa Maria, Pennsylvania. Rite of Return and viewing at Villa Maria Chapel will begin at 9:15 a.m. prior to the funeral Mass. The funeral will be livestreamed. A Prayer of Remembrance service celebrating the life of Sister Jean Orsuto is scheduled for Thursday, May 9, at 7 p.m. [via ZOOM].
Please email info@humilityofmary.org to obtain the Zoom links for the funeral livestream and the Prayer of Remembrance service.
Memorial contributions may be made to the Sister Jean Orsuto, HM Memorial Emergency Fund at Emmanuel Community Care Center, 2 North State Street, Girard, OH 44420. Arrangements by McCauley Funeral Home.
