A gentle friend of the dying

8 August 1913

Ellen (Nell) Fitzgerald, one the foundation nurses, enters the community at Our Lady’s Home. Born in Harden, NSW, in 1885 and educated at Yerong Creek, Nell worked at the convent school in Paddington before entering Our Lady’s Home on 8 August 1913. She proved to be a wonderful nurse who gave all to her patients.

Kind, patient and blessed with a humble spirit, she was often assigned to pray with the dying on the district. Invariably, she stayed with them until the end.

She died on 9 June 1975, after serving the sick poor for more than 60 years.