A memorial Mass for Religious Sister of Mercy Mary Clarita Gibson was offered June 14 at The Villa in Towson. Sister Clarita died June 9. She was 84 and had been a sister for 63 years.
A native of Baltimore, Sister Clarita attended the former St. Bernard’s School in Waverly and in 1949 graduated from Mount de Sales Academy in Catonsville.
That same year, she entered the Religious Sisters of Mercy at Mount Washington and professed final vows in 1955.
Sister Clarita spent her years as a sister in Maryland. She ministered to children, worked with other sisters and supervised lay employees in Mercy institutions.
After she retired in 2003, Sister Mary drove older sisters to appointments and gatherings. For more than 25 years, she tended to and nurtured the gardens at The Villa, a convent for retired and semi-retired sisters in Baltimore. In an interview with the Catholic Review in 2000, Sister Clarita said she prays while she gardens, giving thanks to God for creating flowers of such beauty.
“They’re like a person, bursting forth with love for God,” she said. “The sunflower tilts its large head right up to the sun to praise God, and the little face of the pansy smiles.”
Sister Clarita lived at The Villa since 1974.