Laura Meehan Rutishauser

1960 - 2018

Laura Meehan Rutishauser

Highland Mills - January 3, 1960 - September 15, 2018

Laura Meehan Rutishauser, 58, of Highland Mills, New York, passed away on September 15 after a hard-fought battle with illness. A fierce advocate for the rights of crime victims, Laura enjoyed a 34-year career as a prosecutor in the offices of the NYS Attorney General and the Orange County NY District Attorney.

Laura's proudest accomplishment, however, was that of wife and mother. Laura married Reginald Rutishauser in 1994, and they settled in Highland Mills where they raised their three daughters. With love and tenacity, Laura encouraged her daughters Jennifer, Nancy, and Heather to pursue their dreams through hard work and uncompromising spirit. Growing up, the girls were constantly reminded of their mother's support by little notes of encouragement she would leave in their lunchboxes or packages she sent to them at school. Just before her illness, Laura witnessed Jenny accept her white coat as she began her studies at NYU School of Medicine; she shared in Nancy's excitement for her senior year at Fordham University where she too is preparing for a career in medicine; and she helped Heather, a talented artist, move into her dorm room as she began her studies in digital media and design at the University of Connecticut.

Laura was a 1977 graduate of Suffern High School and a 1981 graduate of the State University of New York at Binghamton. She received her Juris Doctor degree in 1984 from William and Mary Law School. She worked as an Assistant District Attorney in the Orange County District Attorney's Office from 1984 through 1997. She then worked as an Assistant NYS Attorney General, first in the Medicaid Fraud Control Unit and later in the Sex Offender Management Bureau. She worked in the Attorney General's Office for the past 21 years.

An active and devoted parishioner at St. Patrick's Catholic Church, Laura loved spending each summer teaching her class at Vacation Bible School. She also faithfully served as a church lector.

Family was the most important part of Laura's life, and she was blessed with a large, occasionally boisterous family that she supported with advice and compassion at every turn. When a niece or nephew needed help with a college financial aid package, or a cousin had trouble understanding estate law, they knew Laura was the one to call.

Laura was a woman of many passions. She loved her puppies Carlie and Bonnie, looking for shells on the beach, protecting loggerhead sea turtles on Oak Island, NC, finding bargains (and bragging about them), the NY Mets and the NY Giants, lilacs and roses, her Godparents and her Godchildren, Scrabble, finding the perfect Christmas tree, "Dirty Dancing," lighthouses, music boxes, puzzles, collecting ceramic bunnies, and watching "It's a Wonderful Life" every Christmas Eve.

In addition to her husband and daughters, Laura is survived and deeply missed by her sisters Dr. Patricia Mangan, Kathleen Meehan Do, and Mary Meehan Taylor, and her brothers Thomas Meehan and Robert Meehan, Jr. She was pre-deceased by her parents, Nancy and Robert Meehan. Laura is also survived by more cousins, nieces, nephews, aunts, uncles, and in-laws than you could possibly count.

Visitation will be held from 5 to 8 p.m. on Thursday, September 20th at Smith, Seaman, & Quackenbush, Inc. Funeral Home, 117 Maple Avenue, Monroe, NY 10950. A Funeral Mass will be held at 10 a.m. on Friday, September 21st at St. Patrick's Church, 448 Route 32, Highland Mills, NY. Interment will follow at Cemetery of the Highlands, Highland Mills, NY.

Memorial donations may be made to The Julianna Edel Violin Scholarship. Checks should be made payable to MW Music Boosters, PO Box 867, Harriman, NY 10926. Please write "Edel Scholarship" on the memo line.

Funeral arrangements by Smith, Seaman & Quackenbush, Inc. Funeral Homes 845-782-8185 www.ssqfuneralhome.com.