Yvonne Edith Gipson (Jansz), age 69, of Pittsburgh, passed away Tuesday, November 23rd 2021. She graduated high school from East York Collegiate Institute in Toronto Canada, received her BS from Andrews University and her Masters from The University of Pittsburgh. A beloved mother, grandmother, sister, aunt and friend – simply being around Yvonne would make you feel cared for. Yvonne was born in Colombo, Sri Lanka to Shelton and Christobel Jansz and emigrated with her parents and two younger siblings from Sri Lanka to Montreal, Canada in 1961 before they later moved to Toronto. Yvonne started playing piano as a young child in Sri Lanka and continued to play throughout her life, working hard to instill a love of music in her children. Growing up in Canada helped foster Yvonne’s passionate love of hockey. She loved watching her favorite team, the Penguins, calling or texting her children after every goal or bad call from a referee. Yvonne cherished being the librarian teacher at Baker Elementary School in Upper St. Clair. One of her favorite pastimes was introducing books to not only her students but also her grandchildren. Yvonne did not let distance stop her from reading to her beloved grandkids – and loved to read to them during one of their nightly video chats. Throughout her life, she enjoyed many activities, but in particular, participating in book clubs with her friends and teaching her children her favorite recipes. Yvonne was a person who had the ability to make everyone feel comfortable and one of her favorite pastimes was hosting gatherings. From family get-togethers to creating a home where all of her children’s friends felt like one of the family and would always be able to “convince” Yvonne to make her famous baked ziti. She is survived by her son, Jeffrey Gipson and his wife, Jessica Willett Gipson; daughter Jessica Bobbins and her husband, Christopher Bobbins; grandchildren Levi Gipson, Fiona Bobbins, Blake Gipson, Sloane Gipson and Simone Bobbins; brother, Dr. G. Kenneth Jansz and sister-in- law Dr. Janet Strome; sister, Dr. Gwenderlyn Jansz and brother-in-law Dr. Michael Tropak and numerous nephews, nieces great-nieces and nephews as well as friends. A memorial will be held in the spring in Pittsburgh at a date and location TBD. If desired, people may make memorial contributions to The Pitt Hopkins Research Foundation at pitthopkins.org/donate/ in honor of Yvonne and her granddaughter, Blake.
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