Sister Patricia Stebinger, SNJM
Sister Damien Mary

August 21, 1917–June 23, 2010 (Marylhurst, OR)

Sister Patricia Stebinger departed this life on June 23, 2010, at the Marie-Rose Center at Mary's Woods, Lake Oswego, Oregon. She had celebrated 92 years of life and 66 years of religious profession.

Sister Patricia was the youngest of the three children of Frank and Johanna Ross Stebinger, and grew up attending Portland public schools, graduating from Lincoln High School in 1938. At home, her family considered talk of religion to be not acceptable. When she entered Marylhurst College as a freshman, she considered herself an atheist. “I was, at that time, repelled by religion,” she later wrote. Slowly, moved by the example of the sisters and other students at the College, she came to know and appreciate the beauty of the Catholic religion, and to love God dearly. Although her parents were not happy about her decisions, she was baptized in 1938, and entered the Holy Names Novitiate in 1942.

 Possessed of a beautiful contralto singing voice, she had a lifelong interest in music, perhaps influenced by her paternal grandfather who was the first conductor of the Portland Symphony. However, art was her true love, and she received a BA from Marylhurst in drawing and painting, and an MFA (Master of Fine Arts) from the University of Washington in painting. Her teaching career started at Marylhurst College, where she taught art for one year. It also ended at Marylhurst, as a professor of art and art history, which included leading tours to Europe’s art treasures. In between those times she taught at The Immaculate and Holy Names Academy in Seattle, Sacred Heart Academy in Salem, and St. Mary’s Academy in Portland. 

A persistent rumor around Sister Patricia was that she had been a Powers model before she entered the convent. Factually this was totally untrue. But the story told something of her posture, elegance, and physical presence, always outstanding. 

She remained on the faculty at the college into her 80’s and never lost her interest in the program there. Last fall Marylhurst University included some of her vigorous strong paintings in a show of Holy Names Sisters’ work. Her work modeled her beautiful, loving, spiritual nature. She died quietly after a short illness.    

Sister Patricia is survived by her sister-in-law, nieces and nephews, and the members of her religious community.

Sister Pat was a gifted artist and teacher. Her artwork conveyed the spiritual depths of her creativity in rich colors, flowing lines, bursts of energy, pockets of stillness. With abstract imagery, her paintings could evoke landscapes of the spirit, from shadowy forests to sweeping coastal plains. She had a keen eye for shape, light, shadow, and texture in the world around her. In the Caritas dining room, she would always sit positioned so that she could look through a window, or at the shiny surface of a glass door, which reflected moving forms on the television screen around the corner. Although, as a young Holy Names Sister, she could seem “stately” and “stern” in her habit (at least to the small children in the family), the warmth of her smile became more and more apparent as she grew into herself—until, by the time she retired, her hearty chuckle and sense of humor, along with her clear-seeing and sharp intelligence, were her most evident qualities. She was known as an inspiring mentor and role model for her students, a loving and kind daughter, sister, aunt, great-aunt, and great-great-aunt, and a trustworthy and insightful friend. She told fascinating stories of her extended family, and was especially proud of the unique contributions that family members had made—for instance, her geologist uncle who had a dinosaur named after him: Hypacrosaurus stebengeri. Sr. Pat delighted in noticing and pointing out details those around her might otherwise have missed—and some of us may now look at ordinary things a bit differently for having known her.