Jean Colette Gillet

Jean Colette Gillet entered into eternal life fittingly on Memorial Day, May 25, 2026, the last member of the Gillet Family’s Greatest Generation. Jean was born on September 20, 1929, just two weeks after the stock market crash that ushered in the Great Depression, and the timing of her birth was a source of amusement and a dinner time conversation topic for her father, James G. Gillet, whom she adored. Jean was the youngest of two children born to James and Mary Gillet (nee Klein). Her older brother, William James, was 9 years her senior and doted upon her and she looked upon him as her personal St. Michael the Archangel. Jean graduated Shaw High School in 1947, and studied physical therapy at the Cleveland Clinic where she was employed in the Physical Therapy department, after which she opened her own successful practice which she continued until her retirement.

She loved all things Cleveland, the Cultural Gardens, the West Side Market, the small cafés and neighborhood restaurants, its bustling downtown, the Terminal Tower, the gorgeous Cleveland Arcade building, Euclid Beach Amusement Park and, particularly in the winter when the animatronic Christmas lights at NELA Park and the Public Square with spectacular decorations at the May Company and other department stores that delighted children of all ages, with the fresh aromas of peanuts and popcorn mingling with the dewy Lake Erie snowfalls. She frequented and eventually resided near University Circle and its museums, and fostered an appreciation for the fine arts to her nephews and nieces at the Cleveland Museum of Art, Playhouse Square and Severance Hall. From her final residence at the famed Alcazar Apartments, formerly a hotel for national and international celebrities she valued immensely her window that looked over downtown Cleveland. “Look! Isn’t that just beautiful?” Of course, she supported and attended the Browns, Indians, Barons and Cavaliers games. Had there been a women’s league, she undoubtedly would have been there as well.

Jean was devoted to the Catholic Church and with her beautiful soprano voice, for years she sang in the St. Philomena and other choirs. She considered entering the convent, but subsumed her desire for a consecrated life into the care for her mother, Mary, who lived into her 90’s. To satisfy her longing for Christ, she joined the Order founded by Saint Francis of Assisi over 800 years ago as a member of the Order of Secular Franciscans (OSF) and only recently was it learned she headed the Maximilian Kolbe community -Region 70 in Northeastern Ohio in the 1970’s or ‘80’s. True to her quiet humility, she had never spoken of it.

Jean championed equal rights for all races and genders and for financial independence among the poor in the United States and abroad. She lived frugally and, was able to travel the world, sending back postcards and curios from her sojourns. Her particular interest, however, was in the Caribbean and Central America. She combined her numerous trips to Central America with Catholic outreach, using her physical therapy skills to improve the lives of the indigenous populations. She was an active participant in improving racial relations organizations and promoted and acted in biracial theatre companies in East Cleveland during the tumultuous ‘60’s, although her personal records of those days have been lost. Jean’s life was typified by the OSF mission of humility, simplicity and service to others. Her family, friends and the world will miss her.

Jean is preceded in death by her father and mother, James George Gillet, and Mary Gillet, her brother, William James Gillet and his wife, Burneda Catherine Gillet (nee Anderle), and her niece, Bernadette Arlene Long (nee Gillet). She is survived by her niece, Bernetta Eileen Gillet of Tucson Arizona, her nephew, William Raymond Gillet of Lexington Kentucky, her grand niece Stephanie Long of Lexington Kentucky, and her nephew, James Francis Gillet and his wife Robbie Leann Gillet (nee Brown) of Fair Grove Missouri, and grandnieces and nephew, Marna Leann Kerr of Kansas City, Missouri, Maren Eileen Gillet of Springfield Missouri and James Michael Gillet of Fair Grove Missouri.

On June 3, 2026, a visitation and eulogy will be held at the Maher Melbourne Funeral Home, 5236 Mayfield Road, Lyndhurst (East of Richmond Road) from 9 am to 10 am,  followed by a 10:30 Mass of Christian Burial at St. Philomena Catholic Church of Communion of Saints Paris, 13824 Euclid Avenue, East Cleveland, OH 44112, followed by a brief graveside service at Calvary Catholic Cemetery in Cleveland.

In lieu of flowers, donations to the Communion of Saints-St. Philomena Catholic Church would be appreciated.