Maureen Cyr Caruso, known as Mo to many, grew up in Guilford and attended the Guilford public school system. Her experience of growing up with a congenital cardiac defect requiring numerous surgeries during childhood inspired her ultimate career choice of becoming a nurse. After working in the marketing and insurance industries, she realized that her true calling was to use her unique experience to care for patients. This led to her work as a registered nurse in the liver and kidney transplant unit at Yale New Haven Hospital.

Mo went through the Guilford public school system. In her youth, she was active in softball and field hockey, and she played flute. She was also active in the theatre department as a stagehand. She worked at the Guilford landmark Naples Pizza and for Guilford Parks and Recreation. Despite her early health challenges, her parents ensured that Mo lived a normal childhood, and the Guilford community was the perfect environment to allow that to happen. Loyal to her sister, her family, and a wide circle of friends, Mo was also an amazing wife to Joshua Caruso and a loving (and fun) mom to Madelyn Rose and Ava Juliette.

Mo’s life suddenly and unexpectedly ended at 33 in 2013. Four years after her passing, her parents, Shan and Ron Cyr, created the Maureen Cyr Caruso Scholarship Fund through The Guilford Foundation in her memory. The purpose of the scholarship is to reward well-rounded graduating Guilford High School students interested in healthcare, especially nursing. Shan and Ron gave out the first scholarship award in May 2018.