Ellen Michaela McGibben

Ellen was born on November 13, 1951 in Oakland, to John Minahan of Seattle, Washington, and Jane Ann Minahan née Leary of Fort Dodge, Iowa. She grew up on the Peninsula, spending many childhood summers in Fort Dodge. Ellen was a member of the class of 1969 at Mercy High School in Burlingame, where she was a cheerleader, newspaper editor and student council member. She is warmly remembered by her Mercy classmates as a very popular student.

Over the last forty years, Ellen lived in Corralitos, California, where she raised her sons. A registered nurse since 1983, she was among the first hospice nurses in Santa Cruz County, developing a support group program for significant others and caregivers of terminally ill patients at Watsonville Community and Dominican Hospitals. Ellen founded a real estate brokerage in 2005. She also worked as an adjunct clinical nursing instructor with Cabrillo College for the past four years.

All who knew Ellen will remember her independence, intelligence, compassion, courage and sense of fun. She saw everyone she met as their best self. Ellen enjoyed baking, gardening and painting. She loved doting on her three grandchildren, and a Coca Cola with perfectly crushed ice.

A visitation and rosary is scheduled at Crosby N. Gray at 2 Park Rd. in Burlingame on July 2, 2019, at 11 a.m. for the visitation and Noon for the rosary, and then followed by an interment service at Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, Ca., 1500 Old Mission Rd.

A memorial Mass for Ellen will be held in Santa Cruz County at 11 A.M. on July 12, 2019, at Holy Eucharist Catholic Community Church in Corralitos, California.