We remember the life of our beloved Sister Susan Frazer, RSM (Area Administrator for the Sisters of Mercy of Jamaica), who passed away on July 24, 2026. With her boldness, wit, and great love for others, she was a force of change and a principled leader within Jamaica’s Mercy community.
Born in Hancock, Michigan in 1948, Susan Frazer was first introduced to the Sisters of Mercy while attending McAuley High (a Mercy-owned high school) in Cincinnati, Ohio during her youth. There, she saw firsthand what meaningful lives of service the sisters lived and was inspired to enter the Sisters of Mercy’s religious community in 1966 upon her graduation. While there, she continued her education (earning an undergraduate social sciences from Edgecliff College), and was advised by a spiritual mentor to enter into a new place or circumstance that was completely unfamiliar to her in order to discern what her specific calling was. It is this advice that led her to the island of Jamaica in 1971. In Kingston, Jamaica, she served at the Alpha Girls’ School followed by the Alpha Boys’ School, before returning to the United States where she made her final vows and worked as a social worker in a Cincinnati hospital ministry.
Despite this, Sister Susan still felt a call to serve in Jamaica – a place which had become a home to her. In 1977, she returned to the island and began working at St. John Bosco Boys’ Home where she became a much beloved mother figure to hundreds of boys in state-care. Using her knack for enterprise and innovation, Sister Susan led the charge, alongside Sister Sister Noreen, in developing new trade programmes and multiple on-campus businesses which made the school more financially sustainable and which still exist today. This includes the Animal Husbandry trade (pigs and chickens), Farming (greenhouse and crop farming), Barbering, Butchering (which started the ‘Bosco Meats’ butcher shop), and St. John Bosco’s Catering Department.
Due to her remarkable leadership and commitment to developing young Jamaicans, Sister Susan was, over the years, appointed as the Executive Director of the St. John Bosco Boys’ Home, Alpha Girls’ School, and Alpha Boys’ School. In recent years, after decades of nurturing and educating children and youth, Sister made the decision to transition the residential programmes at Alpha Boys’ School and St. John Bosco into skills training day programmes.
In recognition of her impact in Jamaica, several awards have been bestowed to Sister Susan including the following:
- 1992 – The Badge of Honour for Meritorious Service – National Honours Award
- 1997 – Youth Award from the Manchester Chamber of Commerce
- 1998 – Paul Harris Fellow from the Rotary Foundation International
- 2001 – Lifetime Achievement Award for Vocational Service from the Rotary Club of New Kingston
- 2005 – Honour Award from the Manchester Cultural Development committee for development of the parish of Manchester.
- 2010 – Order of Distinction in the Rank of Officer (OD)-National Honours Award
- 2011 – Award from the McAuley High School Alumna, class of ’66 – “Women Who Inspire” award.
- 2026 – RJR/Gleaner Honour Awards for Education
In 2016, Sister Susan became the Area Administrator of the Sisters of Mercy of Jamaica – a role which she performed with the utmost dedication and grace. Continuing the work of her predecessor, Sister Terry Lowe Ching, she helped unify the various Mercy Schools and ministries during her tenure; increasing opportunities for partnership and cultivating among them a shared identity and mission rooted in faith and Mercy. Throughout her life, Sister Susan Frazer used her work ethic, humour, warmth, and faith in God to make an indelible mark on Jamaica.
