Sister Patricia Egan ‘57
Sister Patricia Egan describes her education at Little Flower as an “eye-opening experience” for her, one which taught her the art of listening and communicating effectively. Sister Patricia was inspired by her teachers at Immaculate Conception School and Little Flower to follow in their footsteps as a Sister of St. Joseph.
She recounts that as teachers, the Sisters were excited about their subjects, prepared, and engaged with their students in a way which drew them into the complexities and richness of the subject matter. In this way, Sister Patricia entered the Sisters of St. Joseph and became a teacher herself, now passing along her joy and love of learning with her students. She taught first grade for 38 years, but she also taught students at Holmesburg Prison, the Philadelphia Youth Study Center, migrant workers in Gettysburg, and young teachers and novices at Chestnut Hill College.
As a student, Sister Patricia graduated with a class of 939 girls, but she maintains how accepted and welcomed she felt when attending Little Flower. She looked up to a particular teacher, Sister Philip Mary, SSJ, who acted as her confidant and offered guidance throughout her time there. Through her after-school conversations with Sister Philip Mary, Sister Patricia first heard the call from God to take up religious life. It was even Sister Philip Mary who sponsored her when she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph Order.
Sister Patricia was able to connect with a fellow classmate, Dottie Crowley, when she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph. The two have been friends for over 61 years now, and together they worked with homebound, hospitalized and hospice patients out of St. Bridget Parish in East Falls.
Sister Patricia was honored as the Distinguished Speaker at Little Flower’s 2019 Graduation Ceremony and as such she is automatically entered into the Hall of Fame. When asked what she hoped today’s students would take with them when leaving Little Flower, she stated the following:
“Students leaving LF today and yesterday take with them a solid foundation built on excellence in education, love and respect of others, and the ability to recognize and accept differences in other people.
I would tell the students to take with them all the knowledge they can hold- relationships with favorite teachers and relationships with friends which can last a lifetime, because they do. The values planted in my heart and mind as an LF student matured… Whether you are rich or poor or in-between, those values were planted deeply within us in classes which challenged us, in after-school activities, in Thursday adoration and in the example of teachers and administrators. They have borne fruit—and they will for today’s graduates, too.”
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