Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy, the all-girls high school in La Cañada Flintridge founded by the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose, announced two major estate gifts from two former alumni this month.
On Jan. 15, the school announced a $1.6 million gift from the estate of Patricia Jean Traviss, who graduated in 1949. That was followed by Flintridge Sacred Heart reporting a $5 million gift from the estate of Janet Hart Mitchell, Class of 1948, on Jan. 21.
After graduating from Flintridge Sacred Heart, Traviss earned a degree in event planning from Pasadena City College and studied interior design at Woodbury University in Burbank. Later, she became the director of Rockhaven Sanitarium in Glendale, taking it over from her grandmother.
She died in 2023. She was not married and had no children, but both of her sisters graduated from Flintridge Sacred Heart, and one became a Dominican sister.
Traviss’ gift will be split between the high school and ministries associated with the Dominican sisters.
“Her generosity reflects a life rooted in prayer, service, and a belief in the dignity of every person,” said Sister Celeste Marie Botello, OP, congregational prioress for the Dominican Sisters of Mission San Jose. “Through her legacy, the mission entrusted to us will continue to flourish.”
Mitchell lived in Pasadena while attending Flintridge Sacred Heart. After graduating and going off to college, she married her husband, Glenn, who had a long career in law. Mitchell later lived in Long Beach with her husband and two sons.
Mitchell’s gift will help provide financial aid for students in the form of the Stella and Louis Hart Scholarship Endowment Fund, named after Mitchell’s parents.
“By honoring her parents through scholarships, she has forever eased the burden for families and opened the doors of the Hill to young women she would never meet, yet in whom she deeply believed,” said Marlena Conroy, president of Flintridge Sacred Heart.
