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50 Years: Patricia Eley, SP
(Sister Josepha Marie)
Without the former Providence Hospital in Seattle, Sister Patricia Eley may never have been here. Both of her parents worked at the hospital as 15 year olds, she in the laundry and he in the kitchen, and met on a stairway. The young couple, Mary Jane and Henry J. Eley, married at Immaculate Conception Church and had nine children in their 52 years together. Patricia, their third child, was a Providence baby.
 Patricia grew up around the Sisters of Providence and knew as early as first grade at Holy Family School in Seattle that she wanted to be one, too. As a child, she accompanied her father to help Sister Maria of Providence deliver Christmas boxes of food to the needy. After graduation from the Centenary Class at Providence Academy in Vancouver, Wash., she entered the religious community and professed first vows in 1958. Initially assigned to study nursing, she was sent to teach at St. Finbar School in Burbank, Calif., beginning a 31-year career teaching every grade from third through eighth.
There was a bit of a detour when she left the community for personal reasons in 1971 after 14 years. She continued to teach for three years and then returned in 1974. “Living alone was strange,” she recalled, for one who had entered with a class of 30 and gone to the juniorate in Everett, Wash., along with 60 or more young sisters. Even when she was on mission, the smallest group of sisters, just four, had been in Moxee, Wash.
Sister Patricia was the only one who left after final vows and later returned. When she re-entered, she went to the novitiate again, enrolling in Gonzaga University’s CREDO program for spiritual renewal during her second canonical year while living at the Boone House. She professed first vows for the second time in 1976, and final vows three years later.
An affinity for middle-schoolers
She returned to take up her beloved teaching ministry. In addition to St. Finbar in Burbank, she taught at Holy Rosary School, Moxee, Wash.; Our Lady of Lourdes Parish, Vancouver, Wash.; Our Lady of the Holy Rosary School, Sun Valley, Calif.; and Holy Family School, St. Paul School, and St. Bernadette School, Seattle.
“I loved them all, the kids and the schools, each was unique,” Sister Patricia said. Her favorite assignments were the 21 years spent at the seventh- and eighth-grade level, specializing in mathematics. While teaching middle school age kids is not everyone’s cup of tea, it definitely was hers. “You can work with them and they can think for themselves,” she explained. “They question things. If seventh graders know that you like them and accept them as they are, you are friends forever. If you let them know that they are a burden or a trial, they will pick that up and be nothing but trouble.”
She holds a bachelor of education degree and a master’s of education degree in curriculum development and school administration credentials from Seattle University. The latter led to acceptance of a role as co-principal of St. Paul School in Seattle in 1986.
It took two to replace her
In between teaching assignments, Sister Patricia worked with accountant Sister Agnes Kehoe on finances for the health system corporate offices and for the religious community. Included in that role was responsibility for processing payroll for 120 individuals. “I went to help out, stayed for eight years and replaced her.” When she left the accounting office to return to teaching, two people replaced Sister Patricia.
In November 2001, when her friend Sister Mary Gleason suffered a stroke, Sister Patricia promised to take her home and care for her when she could walk again. The following June Sister Patricia kept her promise, quitting her teaching ministry to become Sister Mary’s caregiver for four years, until Parkinson’s disease required a different level of care for her friend.
Sister Patricia also became caregiver for her 94-year-old mother for 1½ years after she broke her knee. In her spare moments she was a volunteer teaching math with a team at her alma mater, Holy Family School.
Today, Sister Patricia is retired and spends her time crocheting afghans, and visiting sisters at St. Joseph Residence, where she has been leading Sunday and Feast Day singing for about seven years and also serves as sacristan and chair of the liturgy committee. A member of the Duwamish Indian tribe, she has attended tribal gatherings and meetings.
She also keeps in touch with her seven living siblings. One brother died at birth. Another, Johnny, had encephalitis as a child and suffered brain damage. She lovingly related that her parents refused to institutionalize Johnny and he became the center of their home. “He has unified us and brought us incredible joy,” Sister Patricia said. “We have learned so much through him, particularly to have no fear of the handicapped. To us, any disabled person is ‘Johnny,’ a loving, giving human being.”
Sister Patricia views this golden Jubilee as a milestone, reached by taking one day at a time. “In 10 years, at my 60th Jubilee, I’ll be saying, ‘She came, she saw ... ’” she added with a laugh.
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