Sister Mildred Corvi's students benefited from fashion expertise
When Sister Mildred Corvi joined the Sisters of Charity in 1943, the black-and-white habits the nuns wore were a far cry from the fashions she had made and sold -- perhaps even modeled, according to local legend -- as a young woman working at Gimbels department store in New York City.
But during 40 years of teaching home economics -- which became family and consumer sciences -- at Seton Hill University in Greensburg, Sister Corvi would often take her students to the fashion houses, garment factories and runway shows of New York and Italy, a tall and elegant figure among the fashionistas even before the nuns stopped requiring their habits.
"She was a master, really, at clothing design and production," said Sister Ann Infanger, a former student and longtime colleague at Seton Hill. "She really had style."
Sister Mildred Corvi, also known as Sister Alice Louise before the order began using sisters' birth names, died on Saturday, Sept. 3, 2011, in Caritas Christi, her order's motherhouse. She was 91.
Born the third of four sisters and growing up in Woodhaven, N.Y., Sister Corvi and her siblings attended parochial schools until she went off to the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn, said her sister Eileen Lacijan of Port Charlotte, Fla.
Sister Corvi transferred to Seton Hill her freshman year, where she earned a bachelor's degree in home economics before returning to New York to work for Gimbels.
"There had always been some rumor that she was also a model for them, but no one ever could confirm it ... it was sort of an urban legend here," said Sister Victoria Marie Gribschaw, chair of Seton Hill's Division of Social Sciences. "She was always one of the most beautiful sisters in the habit."
Her time at Seton Hill inspired Sister Corvi to join the Sisters of Charity in 1943, and after the order sent her to Columbia University for a master's degree in clothing and textiles, she became a teacher of home economics at the school from 1951-91.
She could be tough on her students, but did so in the name of pushing them to their fullest potential, Sister Infanger said.
Each year, she'd take some of them to New York to meet working designers and buyers, and every third or fourth year they'd go to do the same in Italy -- mostly by drawing on connections Sister Corvi maintained with former students. Meanwhile, she continued to design and make her own clothing, as well as historical costumes that once were displayed in the West Overton Museums.
Sister Corvi retired in 1999, but kept busy helping other sisters with sewing and mending. Colorful vests she made from recycled men's silk ties won her blue ribbons in the Allegheny and Westmoreland county fairs, said Sister Gribschaw.
In addition to her sister Eileen, Sister Corvi is survived by nieces and nephews.
She was preceded in death by her sisters Evelyn Kelliher and Sister Louise Corvi of the Daughters of Wisdom.
Visitation will be from 1:15 to 7 p.m. today and Wednesday in Caritas Christi on DePaul Center Road in Greensburg. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at 7 p.m. Wednesday in Caritas Christi's Chapel of the Assumption. Memorial donations can be made to the Sisters of Charity.
