Sister Jeanne Eberle, SSJ, passed away Feb. 22, 2025, at age 91. She is known as the longtime principal of St. Mark School in Buffalo.
Born in Buffalo on June 11, 1933, Jeanne Marie Eberle was the second of Henry and Elizabeth (Wargo) Eberle’s 10 children. She attended St. Mary Magdalene School and was a 1950 graduate of Mount St. Joseph Academy, both in Buffalo.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in education cum laude in 1955 from D’Youville College (now University). She taught second grade at Buffalo School 48 until she entered the Sisters of St. Joseph order in September 1959, taking the religious name Sister Joan of Arc.
She completed a master’s degree in education from Mount St. Joseph Teachers (now Medaille) College in 1964 before pronouncing her final vows in August 1967. She received a doctorate in education from the University at Buffalo in 1978. At Medaille between 1968 and 1975, she was an assistant professor of education, director of the Graduate Division and chair of the Division of Professional Education.
After two years as principal of St. Aloysius School in Cheektowaga, she went to St. Mark, where she established the Home School Association, after-school and athletic programs, and the popular talent shows. She also sent handwritten Christmas cards to each of the students, inscribed personal notes on their report cards, and gave individual attention to those with problems in school.
In 2008, the school’s lower-level classroom wing was named the Sister Jeanne Eberle, SSJ, Wing of Academic Excellence. She also received the Ned Mathias Unsung Hero Award from the Friends of the West Side Rowing Club in 2007, a Woman of Influence Award from Buffalo Business First in 2008 and the bishop’s Educator of the Year Award in 2009.
After moving to the Sisters of St. Joseph residence in Clarence in 2016, she continued tutoring as a volunteer at Gerard Place in Buffalo, which provides support and housing for single-parent families.
She is the dear sister of Patricia Ricci, Nancy Poss, Marjorie Alaimo, Madonna Dahl, Edward Eberle, the late Betty Galligan, the late Rosemary Gillman, the late Henry Eberle and the late Robert Eberle.
Relatives and friends may visit the Sisters of St. Joseph Clarence Residence, 4975 Strickler Road, Clarence, on Tuesday, March 4, from 1-7 p.m. A funeral Mass will be celebrated at Nativity of the Blessed Virgin Mary Church, 4375 Harris Hill Road in Harris Hill, on Wednesday, March 5, at 10:30 a.m.