Sister Mary Gess Kirby, R.S.M., former Mercy High School counselor, dies at 92

A funeral Mass for Religious Sister of Mercy Mary Gess Kirby will be offered April 11 at 11 a.m. at Mercy Medical Center’s McAuley Chapel in Baltimore. Sister Gess died March 27. She was 92 and had been a Sister of Mercy for 68 years.

Born in the Roland Park area, Emma Burgess Sullivan Kirby attended Mount Saint Agnes lower school and high school in Mount Washington and then enrolled at what is now Notre Dame of Maryland University in Baltimore where she earned a bachelor’s degree while double majoring in elementary education and economics. 

After teaching for two years in a Baltimore City school, she entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1957 at Mount St. Agnes, where she made her novitiate and then professed her final vows on Aug. 16, 1965. 

She taught at the Shrine of the Sacred Heart School in Mount Washington (1960-61) and then was a teacher and guidance counselor at Mercy High School in Baltimore (1961-76).  She received her master’s degree in counseling from the University of Georgia in 1968.    

More obituaries

Sister John Francis Schilling, St. Frances Academy’s biggest fan and transformative leader, dies at 81

Sister Mary Katharine Brent dies at 106

Mike Ditka dies at 86: A life of football, fire, and Catholic faith

Bishop Dewane recalled for his ‘remarkable legacy of faithful service’ to Church

Deacon Carlos Morales, who served Church in Puerto Rico and Maryland, dies at 82

Brother Vincent Joseph Vivian, former director at Shrine of St. Anthony, dies

Copyright © 2026 Catholic Review Media

 Print