Sister Jan Futrell, OSB, 89, a Benedictine sister of Mount St. Scholastica, Atchison, Kan., died Tuesday, July 30, 2024, at the monastery. The vigil service will be Monday, August 5, at 7 p.m. in the monastery chapel, and the Mass of Resurrection will be celebrated there Tuesday, August 6, at 10:30 a.m.
Sister Jan was born to George and Martha Thiel Futrell on December 3, 1934, in Oklahoma City. After graduating from McGuinness High School there, she attended a year of college before entering the Benedictine sisters in Guthrie, Okla., in 1953. For 19 years, she taught in parish schools in Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Okeene, Okla. In 1968, Sister Jan was part of a group of sisters who founded the new community of Red Plains Monastery, first in Oklahoma City and later moving to Piedmont.
In 1973, she participated in the Institute of Religious Formation at St. Louis University. A year later, she joined the staff and helped found a new international program called Focus on Leadership in Denver where she provided spiritual direction and retreats and trained others. When she returned to Oklahoma City in 1980, she helped found God+Center to provide spiritual direction training, which later evolved into the Red Plains Spirituality Center. Sister Jan also served as director of Renew for parishes in the archdiocese of Oklahoma City as well as spiritual formation director of the Pastoral Ministry Program. Eventually, she conducted spiritual renewal workshops in Africa, England, Ireland, Singapore, Canada and the United States along with her brother Father John Futrell, SJ. Sister Jan served as prioress of the Sisters of Benedict from 2002 to 2009, when the group merged with Mount St. Scholastica in Atchison, Kansas.
She continued to provide spiritual direction for some years after she moved to Atchison.
Sister Jan was preceded in death by her parents, her brothers George, James and Rev. John Futrell, SJ, and her sister, Sister Jeanne Marie, OCD, by nieces and nephews and her monastic family. Becker-Dyer-Stanton Funeral Home (www.beckerdyer.com) is in charge of arrangements.
