Sister Elizabeth Gorvin, 94, educator

Sister Elizabeth Gorvin, 94, an educator and administrator, died on Christmas Day of cardiac failure at Holy Child Center in Rosemont.

She was a Sister of the Holy Child Jesus for 73 years.

Born in Boston, Sister Elizabeth was one of seven children. When her family moved to Melrose, Mass., she was taught by the Holy Child nuns at St. Mary's School. She graduated in 1937 from Cheverus High School in Malden, Mass.

She entered the Society of the Holy Child Jesus and professed her first vows in 1941 and her final ones in 1946.

Sister Elizabeth began teaching at St. Leonard's Boys School in Philadelphia. After five years there, she left for Holy Spirit School in Sharon Hill, where she was a teacher and then the principal.

One of her eighth-grade pupils, Cardinal John Foley, became a lifelong friend. "He always called her the best teacher he ever had," said Sister Ruth McCarthy. "He would tell people that all over the world."

From 1953 to 1966, Sister Elizabeth worked in religious matters with the society's novices and postulants. She then served as superior and provincial administrator before returning to teaching at her alma mater, St. Mary's in Melrose. In 1980, she began a 22-year ministry visiting the sick and teaching religion in Florida.

In 2002, she returned to Haverford Estates in Bryn Mawr, where she made arrangements for regular religious services. Sister Elizabeth lived her final years at Holy Child Center in Rosemont.

"Wherever I was, I was always happy," she wrote in her memoirs.

Sister Elizabeth earned a bachelor's degree in mathematics from Rosemont College in 1951, a master of education degree from Villanova University in 1956, and a master of divinity degree from Immaculate Conception Seminary in 1982.

She is survived by several nieces and nephews.

Services were Friday, Jan. 9, and Saturday, Jan. 10.

Donations may be sent to the Society of the Holy Child Jesus, 1341 Montgomery Ave., Rosemont, Pa. 19010.

610-313-8102