Jerri Savuto (center) with the head nurse, Janet, and Alice, a fellow nursing school teacher at the Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya in 2006.
Jerri with Linette, whose husband had macheted both her arms. This is post-surgery in 2003 at the Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya.
Jerri celebrating with the AIDS Orphan Grandmother Group in 2002. - Near the Maua Methodist Hospital in Kenya.
Who was Jerri Savuto?
Jerri Savuto was a passionate, love-filled woman of God who was a champion for women, children, and youth everywhere.
Jerri was a Missionary with the General Board of Global Ministries (GBGM) of the United Methodist Church for over 39 years. A native of Santa Fe, New Mexico, she was a registered nurse and a graduate of Texas Christian University. She and her husband, Bill, served together in New Mexico, Belize, Nigeria, and Kenya.
As an active member of United Methodist Women, she encouraged and mentored women around the world. While serving in Kenya she supported the Alternative Rite of Passage Programs that helped save girls from early marriages and Female Genital Mutilation (FGM).
Jerri’s first mission experience was at the Navajo Methodist Mission School in New Mexico, where she was campus nurse and taught health courses and Bill taught math. While in Belize, Jerri established a successful national breastfeeding program. In the late 1980’s they served in Nigeria, where Jerri did school and rural health nursing. The couple worked at Kenya’s Maua Methodist Hospital from 1998 to 2003 and she was a tutor in the hospital's RN program. Her responsibilities included teaching nursing students in the areas of anatomy, physiology, nutrition, pharmacology, medical and surgical nursing, pediatrics, and community health. When they returned to Maua in 2007, Jerri served as quality improvement and staff development officer and the hospital became a model for others.
While stateside Jerri and Bill were strong mission advocates and maintained ties they had developed with local churches. The couple was noted for their personal communications with so many. For a time they served as Missionary Interpreters for the South Central Jurisdiction (SCJ UMC), interfacing with annual conferences, districts, and congregations.
Jerri and Bill retired to North Texas to be near their daughter in 2012. Jerri continued to be active in UMW, and traveled to the 2014 UMW Assembly in Louisville and to Austin for the TX Legislative Event. She continued to share her missionary stories and her passion for the work of United Methodist Women, always encouraging a happy dance! She entertained us, made us laugh and inspired us. The world was blessed by her life which ended in late 2016. The Jerri Savuto Rescue Center will honor her memory and continue empowering girls with love and care.
