Sister Jean Bricco, who provided care and comfort to countless members of the community through her role as a member of the Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph at Aspirus Langlade Hospital, died Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017 at Rosalia Gardens under the care of LeRoyer Hospice, Sister Delores Demulling and Sister Adele Demulling. She was 93 years old.

Born on July 3, 1924 in Bear Creek, she was a daughter of the late Saul and Laura (Rebman) Bricco.

Raised in White Lake, Sister Bricco began her life’s ministry at Langlade Memorial Hospital. It was here that she received the inspiration to become a Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph while she was a patient.
After recovering, Sister St. Aloysius and Sister McIntosh, both members of the Religious Hospitallers, encouraged and supported her to take training as a nursing assistant.

Sister Bricco left her home at White Lake and entered the Novitiate at Mt. St. Joseph at Palos Park, Ill. After her Novitiate preparation, she took her vows in 1949. Later she received a nursing degree from St. Francis College in Joliet, Ill. and took additional post-graduate work for the surgical operating room at St. Bernard’s Hospital in Chicago, which she managed for over 20 years.

Following these years of service in a large operating room along with teaching student nurses operating room technique, Sister Bricco had an opportunity to pursue a course in chaplaincy that set her focus on pastoral care and after a number of years she returned to her original home of Antigo.

Sister Bricco went on to become an accredited chaplain through the National Association of Catholics Chaplains, which is board certified.

She was instrumental in establishing the LeRoyer Hospice in association with Aspirus Langlade Hospital, including the creation of dedicated hospice unit as part of the expansion of Rosalia Gardens earlier this year. She was the first patient to enter the facility.

Beyond the scope of Aspirus Langlade Hospital and Rosalia Gardens, she took her ministry into hospice homes and Pine Meadow retirement community.

She is survived by Religious Hospitallers of St. Joseph, including Sister Delores and Sister Adele Demulling of Antigo; a sister, Theresa (Andrew) Selenske, Wisconsin Rapids; a brother, Gerald Bricco, Antioch, Ill.; many nieces and nephews.

In addition to her parents she was preceded in death by four sisters, Harriett Robinson, Margie Pratl, Mary Beichley, and Rose Ann at age five; and two brothers, Hubert and Donald Bricco.

The funeral Mass will be celebrated on Wednesday Oct. 4, 2017 at 11 a.m. at St. John Catholic Church with The Most Reverend Robert Morneau, auxiliary bishop of the Diocese of Green Bay, officiating. Burial will take place in Queen of Peace Cemetery.

Visitation will be 4 to 7 p.m. on Tuesday in Hoffmann Hall at St. John Catholic Church and Wednesday at 10 a.m. until the time of Mass.

A parish wake service will be held at 6:30 p.m. Tuesday and the Knights of Columbus will recite the Rosary at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, all in Hoffmann Hall.