Dominican Sister of Peace Dorothy (Mary Timothy) Lorio (81) died at the Mohun Health Care Center in Columbus, OH, on April 15, 2019.
Sr. Dorothy, or Sr. Dottie, as she was known, was born in 1938 in New Orleans, LA, the eleventh of Marie Toups and Philip Lorio’s twelve children.
Sr. Dorothy attended a Catholic primary and high school, which must have helped inform her decision to enter religious life. When she entered the Congregation in 1957, she asked to enter for “personal sanctification and the salvation of souls”- goals to which she remained dedicated for her entire life.
Sr. Dottie earned a Bachelor of Arts in History and Education from Dominican College in New Orleans and her Master of Arts in American History from Saint Louis University in St. Louis, MO. She put her education to work in her early years of ministry, serving as a teacher in middle schools throughout Louisiana.
But Sister Dottie felt called to help people in another way and earned her Master of Social Work from Tulane University. She combined her love of education and her desire to help others by ministering as a guidance counselor at several schools in the New Orleans area, including 18 years at her beloved St. Mary’s Dominican High School. Even when she was a part-time receptionist at Dominican, Sr. Dottie continued to lend a sympathetic ear to those who needed her help.
Sr. Dottie also served her Congregation as Vocation Director, Temporary Professed Director, Novice Director, and Assistant Motherhouse Coordinator. Even after her retirement, she continued her ministry through her prayer and presence at both the New Orleans and Columbus Motherhouses and most recently at Mohun Health Care Center.
Sr. Rose Bowen remembered Sr. Dottie as a woman whose designs were never on great deeds, but who did small things with a great heart. She was enthusiastic about ecology and conservation and eager to find ways to meet the needs of the poor. During one occasion, Sr. Rose remembered, a group of Sisters was discussing ways to improve the food at the Motherhouse. Sr. Dottie reminded them all that they had sufficient food, even when others were going hungry. “For that fact,” Sr. Dottie said, “we should be grateful.”
Sr. Dorothy Lorio was preceded in death by her parents, Philip and Marie Toups Lorio, her brothers, Andrew, Harry, Philip, and James and her sisters, Sister Thais Lorio, SSND and Sister Mary Agnes Lorio, SSND. She is survived by her brothers, Paul, Lloyd, Thomas and John and her sister, Rosemary Millet.
A Vigil of Remembrance Service was held on Tuesday, April 23, 2019, at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse Chapel, Columbus, OH. The funeral liturgy was held at the Dominican Sisters of Peace Motherhouse Chapel on Wednesday, April 24, 2019. Sr. Dottie will be buried at the Rosaryville Cemetery in her beloved Louisiana on May 23, 2019.
Memorial gifts in Sr. Dorothy Lorio’s memory may be submitted securely online or sent to the Dominican Sisters of Peace, Office of Mission Advancement, 2320 Airport Drive, Columbus, OH 43219.
To download a printable PDF of Sister Dorothy’s memorial, please click here.