Teacher taught countless life lessons
There was such an aura of gentleness and kindness about Laurette Cribbins that she often was mistaken for a nun.
“She looked like a nun and she acted like a nun,” said her daughter-in-law Helen Cribbins of Ross. “She was often greeted as ‘Sister’ and she was okay with that.”
A longtime educator, principal and proponent for the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh school system, Mrs. Cribbins also supported the World War II effort as part of the “Rosie the Riveter” movement.
Mrs. Cribbins, 95, died peacefully Monday during her afternoon nap at the Ross personal care home she moved to a year ago.
Raised on the North Side, Mrs. Cribbins came of age in the early days of World War II and wanted to join the homefront effort, especially because her brothers and other loved ones were away fighting, she told WQED-TV in a documentary.
“Girls were not very important to the war in the beginning, but they became very important later on,” she said in the 2016 documentary “Pittsburgh Women in World War II.”
She went to work at Western Union delivering telegrams, until she had to break the worst possible news to the family of a soldier serving overseas.
“All I could think about was my brothers,” she said.
By 1943, Mrs. Cribbins found work as a clerk in the engineering and shipping departments at Dravo Corp., where women were building landing ship tanks, or LSTs.
When she started, workers were expected to build one LST per week. But as the war ramped up, so did production, to as many as three LSTs a week.
“The war taught me that I could do a lot of things I didn’t think I could do,” said Mrs. Cribbins, who would later be inspired to write a book about her experiences called “Regret to Inform You.”
Mrs. Cribbins, nee Smith, met Lawrence Cribbins during a summer trip to Lake Erie.
A Yeoman First Class in the U.S. Navy, Mr. Cribbins proposed and made arrangements for their wedding at St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York City, where he was stationed between war postings.
The couple were married in the iconic Manhattan church in November 1944, before Mr. Cribbins was dispatched to the Pacific Theater. Mr. Cribbins died in 1996.
After the war, the couple moved to Pittsburgh, where they raised a family, and Mrs. Cribbins worked as a substitute teacher in the local Catholic school system.
“She did everything,” said her son Dennis Cribbins, of Ross. “She taught English, math, art and music.”
Her impact on students can hardly be overstated. Even more than 50 years later, they would continue to visit Mrs. Cribbins and welcome her to reunions, said former student Jack Miller, of Reserve.
“She stood in front of a class of 45 kids in the seventh grade and she had total control of the room,” said Mr. Miller, who remembered Mrs. Cribbins from his days as a student at the nowclosed St. Boniface Elementary School on the North Side. “She taught us to sing ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and ‘Possum Sitting on a Hickory Limb.’ ”
“She knew all kinds of songs,” said her son, who said his mother taught her children, grandchildren and even her great-grandchildren to play piano, violin and other instruments. “She had sheet music that would fill a room.”
By 1978, Mrs. Cribbins decided to pursue a bachelor’s degree in science education at Carlow University. She earned a master’s degree in the same subject from Duquesne University in 1984.
In 1975, she was appointed principal of the former St. Francis Xavier Elementary School on the North Side, which eventually became Risen Lord School.
Unable to overcome myriad challenges, the school closed in 1996 despite fundraising and other zealous efforts by Mrs. Cribbins, who retired afterward.
“One could readily see that she had a passion for teaching and loved the students. She was dedicated and tireless in her efforts to keep the schools viable in the face of significant challenges with demographic and economic declines affecting our schools. She was optimistic, hopeful and had a can-do attitude that motivated her teachers and our parents,” said Father Kris Stubna, who worked with Mrs. Cribbins for many years in his former role as education secretary for the Diocese. “There is no doubt at all that Laurette changed the lives of countless young people over many years through her ministry.”
After retirement, Mrs. Cribbins devoted much of her time to writing poetry, painting portraits and reading.
Her lessons continue to live on in students like Mr. Miller.
“This was a person who was totally unselfish and humble,” he said. “If everybody was like her, the world would be a better place.”
Along with her son, Mrs. Cribbins is survived by her son Michael, of Ross; her daughter Kathleen Cribbins, of Ross; nine grandchildren; 24 great-grandchildren; and one great-great-grandchild.
She was preceded in death by her sister Dolores Hass; her brothers Bud and Buzz Smith; and her granddaughter Kristie Cribbins.
Family and friends will be received Sunday, from 2-4 and 6-8 p.m. at the Lawrence T. Miller Funeral Home, 460 Lincoln Ave., in Bellevue (face masks required). Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated at St. Teresa of Avila Church, 1000 Avila Court, in Ross at 10 a.m. Monday (please meet at the church, face masks required). Burial will follow at Christ Our Redeemer Cemetery, 204 Cemetery Lane, in Ross.