Elise Maria Campana

Our beloved Elise Maria Medina Campana, age 92, passed peacefully to her eternal rest on December 9, 2024. Elise touched many hearts during her lifetime, and she lived a full life filled with family and friends and a sustained dedication to her faith and spirituality. Born in New York City to the late Fred and Louisa A. Medina in 1932, Elise grew up in Brooklyn in a loving multigenerational family where grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins lived nearby. She was preceded in death by her husband of 56 years, Roger O. Campana. In 1975, the family moved from New York to Houston, where she lived for 49 years and continued to raise three sons. Elise earned a degree in social work from the City University of New York. She was passionate about helping people in need and pursued a career as a social worker at The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, retiring in 1993. Elise was devoted to ministry as a bilingual spiritual director at the Cenacle Retreat House, Archdiocese of Galveston and Houston, and founded the Lectio Divina prayer community at St. Cyril of Alexandria Catholic Church, where she and her husband were patrons and contributed to the early days of the parish’s growth and addition of a new sanctuary in 1981. Elise is remembered as a devoted mother and grandmother who loved to arrange celebratory family gatherings, a woman of deep faith, and an attentive listener committed to furthering the spiritual journeys of others. She loved dancing, winning several contests with her husband. She also loved classical music, the opera, and reading. She is survived by her siblings: Nydia Boles, Fred Medina, and David Medina and their spouses; her children: Roger D. Campana and his wife Ellen Drumheller, Ronald C. Campana, and Edward M. Campana and his wife Andrea Campana; her grandchildren: Stacy L. Campana, Amy L. Campana, and Giulia E. Campana; her great-grandchildren: Denver J. Dunlap, Mayan Mendez, Balam Mendez, and Miryam Mendez; and her great great-grandchild, Dawson Thomas-Mendez. A memorial Mass will be celebrated 10 a.m. Monday, January 6th at St. Cyril of Alexandria, Houston, TX, 10503 Westheimer Road,. In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the MD Anderson Cancer Center https://mdanderson.donordrive.com/campaign/Remembrance-of-Elise-M--Campana or St. Cyril of Alexandria Church.

For those unable to attend in person, the family kindly invites you to join them virtually via the livestream at: https://www.facebook.com/stcyrilhouston