Donna Joy Ortyl

1945 - 2026

News story
By Eric Taunton
Blade staff writer

Donna Joy Ortyl, a lifelong teacher and learner known for her boisterous laugh, curiosity, and passion for teaching the next generation, died on Monday at Hospice of Northwest Ohio. She was 80.

Her son, Brent Billmaier, said she died of bone cancer, which was the result of complications with two bouts of breast cancer.

Her personality very much matched her name, her husband, Jim Ortyl said. He said he had never met someone who was "filled with so much laughter."

"She had an endless, bottomless pit of laughter," Mr. Ortyl said. "You could not have a conversation without her laughing."

"She just wanted to make everybody else happy," Mr. Billmaier said. "We were always so busy with work, my wife and myself … she planned all sorts of extracurricular activities for our children, like zoo camps and things like that. We never needed a babysitter in our whole life. Even though she was such a hardworking schoolteacher, she found time for us."

Mrs. Ortyl was a member of Masterworks Chorale, a community choir in Ottawa Hills, for over 40 years, starting when she was young, Mr. Ortyl said.

When friend and musical counterpart Ellie Routt joined the group in 2018, the pair would carpool every Monday evening to their rehearsals. They did that for the entirety of their friendship, she said.

"She was always just very optimistic and upbeat," Ms. Routt said. "She always had a smile on her face."

Mrs. Ortyl never let her past struggles or the fight before she died stop her from living up to her name, her friend said.

"She was always very grateful for having survived those two bouts of cancer," Ms. Routt said. "She volunteered at the Victory Center, so she had a heart for people who were going through similar diagnoses and recovering. She'd go to the Victory Center every Tuesday and they'd have a little support group."

"She was involved with that for a long time, always supporting women that she didn't know, just trying to cheer people up," she continued. "That's why I always think her name, Joy, is very appropriate, because she did have joy in her heart."

Donna Joy Ortyl was born to Pauline and Noel McClure on Aug. 28, 1945, in Toledo. She graduated from DeVilbiss High School in 1963 and went on to study at the University of Toledo.

She graduated with a bachelor's degree in education in 1967 and her master's in the same field in 1973.

Mrs. Ortyl didn't always want to be an educator, Mr. Ortyl said.

"She wanted to become a doctor … but she also wanted children, so that kind of changed her mind," he said. "She selected education so she could spend more time with her children, especially in the summertime."

After receiving her master's, Mrs. Ortyl left Toledo and taught at middle and high schools in Oakland and Athens, Ga., before returning to her alma mater to teach.

After teaching at UT, she taught math and science at St. Francis de Sales School, St. Ursula Academy, and Notre Dame Academy before landing at Ottawa Hills High School in the 1980s.

Katherine Hurst, former Ottawa Hills principal, said she started out as a teacher the same year as Mrs. Ortyl.

"We talked together and we used to meet every Friday … and talk about our week," Ms. Hurst said. "It was kind of a rough start because it was our first year at Ottawa Hills, and that was in the '80s, but we always had fun."

On Ms. Hurst's journey to becoming principal, she came to know the math and science teacher as a fun woman who was happy but just as firm, she said.

"She was not a negative person," Ms. Hurst said. "She always had a smile."

Mr. Billmaier said his mother could be "strict and get down to business but still had a really great sense of humor and could relate to the kids."

A box of letters from past students proved her impact as an educator.

"The coolest thing that I saw when I was going through all the boxes of everything was coming across dozens of handwritten letters from former students that didn't have to do it," her son said. "They all said, like, 'I just wanted you to know how much you changed my life.' Some of them said, 'I wouldn't have graduated if it wasn't for you.'"

When Mrs. Ortyl retired in 2005, she continued singing with Masterworks Chorale and became a master gardener in Wood County, Mr. Ortyl said.

"She loved to play in the mud," Mr. Ortyl said.

Mrs. Ortyl is survived by her husband, Jim Ortyl; son Brent Billmaier; daughter Brooke Wagner; stepson James Ortyl; two grandchildren; and two stepgrandchildren.

A celebration of life service will be held at 1 p.m. at Witzler-Shank-Walker Funeral Home in Perrysburg on Thursday, with friends and family being received from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. The family asks all donations be made to the Victory Center in Toledo.