Reflections Magazine Issue #60 - Fall 2003 | Page 18

!mpact!
Gifts and
Giving

16

One Family’s Response
To the Kindness of an
Adrian Dominican
Sister Jean Cecile Hunt, OP
Cusick Family Endowed
Scholarship
Editor’s Note:
Special thanks to Katherine Cusick for
significant assistance with this story.

S

r. Jean Cecile Hunt and the John and
Elizabeth Cusick family of Lansing
began a lifelong friendship in September of 1962 when Mary Cusick Brya
’69 first entered St. Joseph Academy to
begin her high school education. 
Two sisters, Julie and Christine, would follow and
graduate from the academy in 1966 and
1969, respectively. Christine would follow
in 1969.
With the encouragement and mentoring
of Sr. Jean, Mary and Julie entered the
Dominican order and later graduated from
Siena Heights. A decade later, two more
of the Cusick children were encouraged
by Sr. Jean to attend Siena, and in the
1980’s Joseph and Katherine graduated
from Siena Heights. 
“To say Sr. Jean Cecile answered God’s
call to be a mentor and friend to the Cusick
family is an understatement,” says Mary.
“Encouraging young minds to seek a value
driven education based on developing
the individual was indeed Sr. Jean doing
God’s work.”  
Principal of St. Joseph Academy from 1960
to 1972, Sr. Jean Cecile went on to become
a legendary student advisor and director
of advising at Siena Heights beginning in
1974. Upon her retirement in 1990, she was
named professor emerita. Known to hundreds of students as a loving friend, demanding teacher, and remarkable counselor, Jean
Cecile was committed to the education and
growth of each student she served.
The Cusicks were drawn to Sr. Jean almost
immediately. In the early years, when visiting at St. Joseph Academy, they could
count on Sr. Jean to greet them with a warm
welcome and shared conversation.
“On one occasion, we arrived at the Academy late in the night.  Sr. Jean welcomed
all of us in—and at that visit there were 9
of us.  She took us to the kitchen and pulled
out treats enough for everyone and visited
with us as if we were enjoying a scheduled
afternoon tea,” Julie recalls.

Jean Cecile, shown right with Joseph Cusick ’88,
had “a humble and attentive nature that drew us
to her,” says Katherine Cusick ’84, ’91/MA.

Sister was quick to share a piece of chocolate or a Butterfinger candy bar, Julie
remembers. “This was Jean’s way of turning an advising session into a visit amongst
friends. And what a friend she was!”   
Jean developed a friendship with Joseph
Cusick ’88 that he will forever cherish.
“Sr. Jean held Joe as a baby when our
family made the first trip to the Academy,”
Joe’s mother Elizabeth, explains. Jean
watched him grow over the years and then,
17 years after that first meeting, “she again
held Joe’s hand as he began his college
career at Siena.”  
Joseph recalls many afternoons in Sr. Jean’s
office, visiting and discussing world events.
He found, as so many Siena students did,
that with Jean, no request went unheard or
undelivered. “No matter what the need, she
would find some way to meet it.”  
When a student was homesick or in need
of direction, Jean always took time to listen
and provided unwavering counsel.  
“She
was our ‘light in the storm,’” says Mary,
noting that Sr. Jean Cecile was an educator
who understood that to develop a person’s
mind, you must first comfort and elevate the
person’s spirit. 
Th H