Class of 1927
Nellie Agnes Gillissie, as listed in the Alumni record, was born about 1896 in Pennsylvania. Her parents, born in Canada, were Patrick Gillissie and Catherine MacLindon/McAlindon.
In the 1910 Federal Census of Neel Avenue, West Homestead, Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, Patrick, 49, and Catherine, 45, had been married 28 years, and had six living children. The four children living in the home were Charles, 19, Florence, 17, Nellie, 13, and a married daughter, Anna, and her husband, Aloysius Moore.
Nellie E. and Florence E. Gallissie, at the same Neel Avenue address, were listed as nurses in the 1912 and 1914 Pittsburgh City Directories. Clearly, they were not licensed nurses.
Florence Dorothy Gillissie, born April 27, 1894, married Bert Willis Page in 1915 in Akron, Ohio. She was living at Neel Avenue, West Homestead, when she died of influenza pneumonia on January 24, 1919. She was 6 1/2 months pregnant at the time, according to her death record. Her sister, Anna Moore, provided the information for the death record.
In 1929, Nellie Gillissie was the Maid of Honor at the wedding of Rosella Radko, St. Francis nursing school graduate, Class of 1926.
At the time of the 1930 census, Nelly Gillissi, 34, born in Pennsylvania, parents born in Canada, was a Nurse for a Private Family. She lived on South Mathilda St., Pittsburgh, and her boarders, all graduates of the St. Francis Hospital School of Nursing, were Ruth Noel (1926), Gertrude Scanlon (1927), and Barbara Frauenholz (1926),
When Patrick Gillissie died on February 29, 1932, his daughter, Mrs. Eleanor Shumaker, gave the information for the death certificate. This would seem to be Nellie, a common nickname for Eleanor.
NOT CONFIRMED
Eleanor Mildred Gillissie was married to John Heckman at the time of her death on September 5, 1952 in Allegheny County. Born on December 13, 1896, she died of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Despite the conflicts with the middle name, and with the father listed as John in the death record (info per husband), relatives indicate that this is the Nellie Gillissie, daughter of Patrick and Catherine, who graduated from St. Francis. She is buried at Saint Mary Magdalene Cemetery, Munhall, Allegheny County. Her sister, Florence is buried there, as well.
Additional information about Nellie Gillissie will be appreciated.