Sister Mary Gess Kirby, R.S.M., former Mercy High School counselor, dies at 92 April 5, 2026By Catholic Review Staff Catholic Review Filed Under: Local News, News, Obituaries 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 Deacon Wayne Matthews, longtime church leader and scientist, dies at 81 Betty Contino, a giant in empowering Baltimore’s Catholic school students, dies at 81 Sister Marian Joseph Baird, R.S.M., dies at 87 Mary Pat Stoval, longtime archdiocesan fiscal services director, dies at 67 Sister Mary Laurentilla Back, S.S.N.D., dies at 93 Sister Maria Soledad Gutierrez dies at 101 Copyright © 2026 Catholic Review Media Print
