Jean Adami Disorbo

OLEAN – Jean Adami Disorbo passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on Monday, August 30, 2021, a year to the day after her husband passed away.  Jean was born December 7, 1938, to parents Aldo Francisco Adami and Jessie Bernadette (Hamed) Adami.

Jean was born and raised in Olean, NY and lived most of her life on Main Street, where her Italian immigrant grandparents started and then her father owned and operated the Verona Restaurant.  

After graduating from Olean High School, Jean attended beautician school in Buffalo and then taught hairdressing before opening her own salon at the Olean House amongst other local business owners with whom she formed lifelong friendships.

Her independent streak drove her to become a dynamic entrepreneur. In addition to the hair salon, she owned and operated several businesses on Union Street including a wig shop, an exercise business and most recently Qwik Pack & Ship, a business she founded in 1988 and ran until her retirement in 2014.  Jean had a knack for finding a market niche and building a successful business around it.  Over her career, she always turned a profit and found a great deal, a trait her Lebanese friends and relatives admired. She was a lifelong member of the Republican party and an election volunteer for many years.  

Jean always remembered her humble beginnings.  She liked to help resourceful people that needed a little boost and quietly used her business to do many small acts of kindness for people in need.

She was known to speak her mind often but those who knew her respected her for it.  She cherished her family, loved the beach, enjoyed working, and was a terrific wife, mother, and grandmother.

Jean was married to Joseph John Disorbo, Jr., her husband of 63 years, on May 25, 1957, at St John's Church. Joe and Jean were lifelong sweethearts, and throughout their retirement were daily fixtures at Tim Hortons on West State Street along with John and Carole Dwaileebe, Joe and Sandy Heister and other local celebrities.  Carrying on their decades long tradition of daily donut shop meetings with great friends and local business owners, it is rumored the city was secretly run out of the back table at Tim Hortons.  

Jean and Joe were members of St. Joseph’s Parish and regulars on the summer festival circuit for most of their lives.  They especially liked the Lebanese festival at Gargoyle Park (especially when you could bring your own food).  Jean loved to cook both Italian and Lebanese food with her mother, and she was known to always have a stocked fridge making her kitchen the heart of her family, and also her children’s friends.  Like most Italian mothers, she thought if you didn’t overeat, you didn’t eat enough.  

Jean is survived by her daughters, Denys (Matt) Hannon and Shayne (Jeff) Downey; her son, Joseph Aldo (Becky Wood) DiSorbo; six grandchildren, who called her" Mema," Henry and Jane Hannon, Peter and Anneliese Downey and Joseph John III and Anna DiSorbo; her inlaws, Louis (Rosie Laskey) Disorbo and James (Mary Jane Buckley) Disorbo; Barbara (Keith) Harden and Julie (John) Irving; and many beloved nieces and nephews.

She was predeceased by her husband; her parents; her older sister, Antoinette Colts; her older brother Paul Adami; her twin brother, John Adami; her nephew Mark Colts; her father and mother-in-law, Joseph John Disorbo Sr. and Kathryn Geoghegan Disorbo.

Friends will be received from 5-7pm on Thursday (September 2, 2021) at Guenther’s Funeral Home at 1303 E State Street in Olean. A Divine Liturgy will be held at St. Joseph Maronite Catholic Church at 10 am on Friday (September 3, 2021) at 1102 Walnut St. in Olean, the Rev. Claude Franklin, Pastor will officiate, followed by a Christian Burial at St. Bonaventure Cemetery in Allegany.

Memorials, if desired, may be made to  The Kathryn Geoghegan Disorbo   Memorial Nursing Scholarship at givetoupb.org; St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital at stjude.org/donate; HomeCare and Hospice, 1225 W. State St., Olean, NY 14760 or to the Olean Business Development Corporation, 301 N. Union St., Olean, NY 14760.

Funeral arrangements are under the direction of the Guenther Funeral Home Inc.

Online condolences can be made at guentherfh.com.