Retired Colonel Jean Migliorino Piccione dedicated her life to the betterment of others. Growing up in Pittsburgh in the 1940’s, Jean enjoyed music, dancing, and doting on her sister Elma. Jean attended nursing school at St. Francis Hospital in Pittsburgh and Columbia University in New York, before completing graduate work at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
Jean entered the Air Force in 1953 and traveled throughout the United States and abroad training flight nurses. Over the course of her career, Jean opened units for veterans, recruited for the Air Force Nurse Corps, and worked with prisoners of the Vietnam War. She was discharged from the Air Force in 1979, with 26 years of honorable service to her name.
After marrying the love of her life, Phillip Piccione, Jean relocated to San Antonio in 1981. Together, Jean and Phil spent their days traveling the world—visiting every state capital in the United States and many countries across the globe. Along her travels she collected wooden, metal, and other visual likenesses of Don Quixote — the protagonist of a story by Cervantes that was meaningful to Jean. She loved the Cervantes quote, “The man who fights for his ideals is the man who is alive.”
Creating a Legacy of Care and Support
A charter member of the Society of Retired Air Force Nurses and a card-carrying member of Mensa, Jean prioritized philanthropy throughout her life and further planned to uphold her charitable principles following her death.
In 1998, Jean established an endowment at UPMC Children’s to celebrate the care her great-nephew received at the hospital. In 2012, Jean made a significant gift to the endowment to honor her sister, Elma. Jean additionally made arrangements to add to the fund with a legacy contribution.
On December 1, 2021, Jean passed away peacefully at the age of 90. Today, the Colonel Jean Migliorino Piccione and Elma Migliorino Cravotta Endowed Fund provides permanent support to ensure that all children receive the medical care they need, regardless of a family’s ability to pay.
Learn more about establishing endowed funds and all the other ways to plan gifts in your estate.
In life and in death, “The Good Colonel” (as Jean is fondly remembered at UPMC Children’s) has provided for kids facing illness and injury. We celebrate Jean’s tremendous generosity and thank The Good Colonel—and all of our compassionate legacy donors—for contributing to the care of this generation of children, and the next.