Eleanor Massi

Eleanor Massi

Eleanor Massi’s 1955 graduation photo

When Eleanor Massi and her husband Alfred began to talk about their estate plan, both were passionate about including their alma maters as beneficiaries.

“The more we talked about it, we decided we didn’t want to wait, so we decided to give our gift now,” explains Eleanor. With assistance from St. Luke’s Planned and Major Gift Advisor, Gail Evans, the Massis established a charitable gift annuity to benefit the School of Nursing.

“We receive a guaranteed income stream for the remainder of our lives and never have to worry about fluctuations in the market,” says Eleanor.

Eleanor has fond memories of her time at St. Luke’s School of Nursing and is grateful for the outstanding education she received there. Having the utmost respect for those who pursue a nursing career, Eleanor always planned to include St. Luke’s in her estate plan to help future students obtain their goals by supporting them through the endowment that will be created with their gift: The Eleanor and Alfred Massi School of Nursing Scholarship Fund.

When Eleanor Massi graduated from high school, most women went on to become a secretary, a nurse, or a teacher. Always interested in helping people, Eleanor chose nursing and spent the next thirty years doing just that.

According to Eleanor, she entered St. Luke’s School of Nursing as a naïve 18-year-old girl and left three years later as a responsible 21-year-old nurse. “It was an invaluable experience,” shares Eleanor. “I was exposed to all different aspects of medicine and made lifelong friends.”

After graduating in 1955, Eleanor worked briefly as an emergency department nurse and then as a corporate nurse at Bethlehem Steel Corporation for the rest of her career. Working alongside in-house physicians, Eleanor conducted management physicals, provided CPR training, managed the employee wellness program, and treated sick and injured employees as needed.

She even served as a “flight nurse,” flying on the company plane(s) to treat employees who became ill while traveling on behalf of Bethlehem Steel. Eleanor says, “I loved my job. The work was diverse and never got dull.”

A lifelong Bethlehem resident, Eleanor successfully led an effort called “Citizens for Saving Lives.” The group was responsible for bringing a paramedic ambulance to the city in the 1970s. Through these efforts, she was appointed to the City of Bethlehem’s Board of Health and served under five mayors. Not one to sit still, she volunteered at her alma mater and conducted CPR and AED (automated external defibrillator) training for first responders well into retirement.

“Nursing is such a rewarding profession, and the need for nurses is great,” explains Eleanor, “so we need to ensure St. Luke’s School of Nursing remains viable and that students can afford to pursue what is truly a satisfying and rewarding career path.”