Posted November 03, 2018 in Obituaries

Faith-filled religious, innovative minister

We remember Sister Donna Capuano as a fearless and faithful woman, at home with primary students learning to read as well as business executives and construction workers. She was a woman open to the promptings of the Spirit, willing to serve in many capacities throughout her life. In spite of her diagnosis of a rare and debilitating terminal condition, her faith was unwavering to the end, as she constantly expressed gratitude to God and to those who cared for her. Sister Donna died peacefully November 2 at Regina Health Center where she had been in residence since July 2017.

Donna Jean was born April 3, 1936, to Claude and Anna Mae (Corrigan). With her siblings she attended St. Timothy School and then went on to graduate from Notre Dame Academy. In 1954 she entered the Ursuline congregation and professed her final vows in 1960 as Sister Mary Ignatius.

Sister Donna earned undergraduate and graduate degrees from St. John College in Cleveland and was also proud of her further studies at The University of Notre Dame and Harvard. Her earliest years of ministry were in elementary education at St. Catherine and St. Patrick (Cleveland), St. Charles Borromeo (Parma), St. Therese (Garfield Heights), St. Robert Bellarmine (Euclid) and St. Clare (Lyndhurst) where she also served as principal. Other ministries were varied: service in the Diocesan offices; Director of Continuing Education at Ursuline College; education consultant at the Hitchcock Center for Women as well as at Ameritech; Executive Director and Career Consultant at the Ursuline Sophia Center; consultant for Zunt Construction; Organizational Director for New Ventures, and coordinator of the motherhouse community.

Most recently, Sister Donna was a resident at Regina Health Center where she impressed the staff and residents with her willing acceptance of the limitations of her disease, her laughter, her gratitude and her courage in facing death.

Sister Donna will be remembered for her passion for life, her love of family and community, her compassion for individual sisters in need and her creativity in her ministry in all its varied forms. 

She is survived by her siblings Dick (Glenda), Dody, Jack (Maureen), Bonnie (Tom) and Tom (Danny) and many nieces and nephews. 

Donations in Sister Donna’s memory can be made to the Ursuline Sisters.

Funeral Services for Sister Donna:
Chapel of the Most Holy Trinity
Ursuline Motherhouse, 2600 Lander Road
Wake Service: 4:00 p.m. Tuesday, November 6
Funeral Mass: 7:00 PM Tuesday
Burial Service: 9:30 AM Wednesday, November 7
Interment will follow at All Souls Cemetery, Chardon.