SISTER ELEANOR GIBBONS (formerly Sister John Patrick), age 84, died at Caritas Christi, the motherhouse of the Sisters of Charity of Seton Hill on January 18, 2021. A native of Pittsburgh, Sister Eleanor entered the congregation of the Sisters of Charity on September 8, 1954, from Saint Elizabeth Seton Parish in Carnegie. Preceded in death by her parents, Michael A. and Margaret L. (Kolling) Gibbons, four brothers: Robert M., Donald J., John P., Eugene and 3 sisters: Mrs. Bernadette (Robert) Karmann, Mrs. Regina (Larry) Reynolds and Patricia Rathburn, and a paternal cousin, Sister Leocadia Mulholland, SC, she is survived by a brother, James, and nieces and nephews. She earned a bachelor’s degree in education from Seton Hill University and a master’s degree in education from Arizona State University. Sister Eleanor taught students of the intermediate and junior high school levels in schools of the Greensburg, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, Tucson dioceses and the archdioceses of Baltimore and Los Angeles. In 1974 she co-authored the article “How the Janitor can help in the Reading Program published in The Reading Teacher, Volume 27, No. 5. From 1979 through 1994, Sister Eleanor ministered as advocate and notary in the Matrimonial Tribunal of the Archdiocese of Los Angeles at Santa Maria, CA. In 1995-1996, she directed a “before and after school” program at Saint Mary Basha School in Chandler, AZ and from 1997 until 1999, she served as an advocate and auditor for the Matrimonial Tribunal of the Diocese of Phoenix. In 1999, she began ministry with the Saint Vincent de Paul Society of the Diocese of Phoenix that extended until 2003, when she volunteered her services at the 1st Way-Women’s Crisis Center, Phoenix, AZ until 2010. Sister Eleanor reflected on her life as a Sister of Charity. “As a religious, I always felt free to do what God wanted of me, whether it was working with marginalized people such as the homeless, those in spiritual need or teaching children.”
