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Eleanor Lewis, nun and teacher dedicated to women in prison, dies

dillon mullan, baltimore sun
·3 min read

Eleanor Lewis, a nun and teacher dedicated to women in prison, died of heart failure Jan. 19 at Charlestown senior living community in Catonsville. She was 97.

Eleanor Virginia Lewis was born in 1926 in Teaneck, New Jersey, to Josiah Freeman Lewis, an engineer at Bell Laboratories, and Marion Wiegers Lewis, a homemaker. Lewis had three siblings, and as she grew up in the Great Depression, her family would leave extra food behind their house for anyone who needed it.

“Everyone knew it was a friendly house that they could come by and get food. That stuck with her,” nephew David Villa said.

Ms. Lewis graduated from St. John the Evangelist High School in Bergenfield, New Jersey, in 1944, where she said her gym teacher was Vince Lombardi, and Good Counsel College in White Plains, New York, in 1948 with a degree in history.

Out of college, Ms. Lewis, who enjoyed mystery novels in her free time, volunteered at Dorothy Day Catholic Workers in the Bronx and at Friendship House in Harlem alongside Catholic writer and activist Thomas Merton. Into her 90s around Baltimore, Ms. Lewis volunteered by serving meals at Viva House.

Ms. Lewis was a member of the Sisters of the Divine Compassion from 1951 until 1969 under the name Sister Mary Trinitas. As a nun, she received a master’s degree in religious education from The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., and a Ph.D. in the history of Christian thought from Fordham University in the Bronx in 1970.

“Everybody has got that one kooky aunt who is a little different. She was a nun for a period of time, and was someone very unique in the family,” Mr. Villa said.

Ms. Lewis taught for three decades at Good Counsel College in addition to Siena College, St. Bonaventure University, Loyola University of New Orleans, Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama, Georgetown University, Lutheran Theological Southern Seminary in Columbia, South Carolina, and St. Mary’s Seminary & University in North Baltimore until retiring from academic life in 1984. At Siena, she was the first woman to be head of a department. Ms. Lewis also taught in prison, and maintained correspondence and friendships with her students.

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“There was a woman in Columbia, South Carolina, she drove to visit every year,” niece-in-law Karen Villa said. “She never boasted or bragged. She just wanted to help people.”

After retiring from teaching, Ms. Lewis devoted herself to the cause of incarcerated women through the Baltimore agency, Alternative Directions Inc., with whom she created a program to provide civil legal assistance to women prisoners in Baltimore, a program that is still in operation.

In 2004, Ms. Lewis moved to the Charlestown community in Catonsville. In her free time, she cooked, did tai chi every morning and watered the flowers on her balcony. Every year the day after Thanksgiving she cut down a Christmas tree with her nieces and nephews.

“Into her 90s she wanted to know what are we doing tomorrow, what are we doing next week or next year when we cut down the Christmas tree. There is always tomorrow,” Ms. Villa said.

Ms. Lewis was preceded in death by her parents and three siblings. She is survived by nine nieces and nephews and 14 great-nieces and great-nephews. There will be a memorial service Saturday at Charlestown in Catonsville at 11:30 a.m.

“She would always make sure to tell me to stop and smell the roses,” Ms. Villa said.