Sr. Mary Elizabeth
Sr. Mary Elizabeth Gintling
SALISBURY — Sister Mary Elizabeth Gintling, 89, of Salisbury died Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2004, at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury.
Born in Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 1914, she was the daughter of the late Hal J. Gintling and Dessie Mary Lawrence Gintling. Her family moved to Baltimore shortly thereafter. They lived in a house built by Sister’s father in Sparrows Point.
She graduated from St. Ann’s Elementary school in Baltimore in 1929 and from Sparrows Point High School in 1934 (she finished late because she took time off from school to care for her ailing grandmother.)
In 1941, Sister completed the course of studies at Mercy Hospital Nursing School in Baltimore. She worked as a public health nurse before entering the Little Sisters of the Poor in 1943.
Sister worked in the nursing homes run by this community in Baltimore, Cleveland, Detroit, Louisville and Manhattan. She provided nursing care to the elderly, supervised the pharmacy and served as assistant superior in several of these locations.
In 1964, at the age of 50, Sister departed the Little Sisters of the Poor because she felt that God was calling her to a new way of life.
The following year, she started the Joseph House, a volunteer run organization that provides assistance to the poor. The first Joseph House was located on McCulloh Street in Baltimore.
Eager to continue to live as a vowed religious, Sister, along with Patricia Guidera, started the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary in 1974. They established a convent in Salisbury in 1978 and relocated the ministry of Joseph House to help the needy on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
To help raise funds for her ministry, Sister opened in Ocean City a book and gift store named Joseph House by the Sea.
In response to the growing needs of poor, in 1984 she opened the Joseph House Crisis Center on Boundary Street in Salisbury. A residential facility called Joseph House Village was constructed in 1991. It is now known as the Village of Hope.
Her more recent project to help those in need is the Joseph House Workshop, a residential job readiness program for homeless men. Construction of this facility is nearing completion.
Sister established St. Joseph Cloister in Princess Anne in 1996. This house of prayer is where she resided in her later years. In 2001, a Novitiate was added to provide a place of training for new sisters.
Her life of service drew many awards, including the Salisbury Award (1992), the Lumen Christi Award from the Catholic Extension Home Mission Society (1989) and the Rotarian Four Way Test Award (1992). In 1989, she was named a Woman of Honor by the Maryland State Senate. In 2004, she received the Humanitarian Award from the Salisbury Chamber of Commerce.
In recognition of her charitable spirit, she was often called the Mother Teresa of Salisbury. To her sisters in community, she was known affectionately as Mother Goose.
Her friendships crossed boundaries and she inspired people from all walks of life. Sharp and observant, her compassion for others was matched by her wit. She brought energy, zeal and vision to everything she did. Even declining health and the presence of a cane and oxygen tank did not seem to slow her down. She also had a soft spot for dogs and never traveled anywhere without a few dog biscuits in her pockets.
She was devoted to her community, her family, friends, the church and the poor. The needs of others always came ahead of her own.
Sister loved to laugh, she loved to tell stories and she loved people, including their faults. Most of all, she loved God and preached the Gospel by the way she lived her life. She leaves behind an example of how each person can make a difference.
In addition to her religious family, the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary, she is survived by her brother, Nevin J. Gintling and his wife, Pearl, of Baltimore; two sisters in law, Dolores Gintling of Essex, Md., and Lucille Gintling of Baldwin, Md.; 10 nieces, Carolyn “Bonnie” Aronson and her husband, Arthur, Linda Zampini and her husband, Robert, Anne Whipple and her husband, Thomas, Lucinda Meyer and her husband, Robert, Mary Gintling, Louise Semancik and her husband, Andrew, Karen Gintling, Clare Rybczynski and her husband, Phillip, Margaret Mary Lennon and her husband, Mark, and Susan Esterbrook and her husband, Tripp; one nephew, Mark Gintling; and three cousins, Joseph Lawrence and his wife, Johanna, Roger Lawrence and his wife, Marie, and Dom Bruno Lawrence.
In addition to her parents, she was preceded in death by three brothers, Harry, Roger and Robert Gintling.
A Mass of Christian burial will be celebrated Monday at 10 a.m. at St. Francis de Sales Catholic Church, where a viewing will be held Sunday from 2 to 9 p.m. The Most Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli will be the celebrant. The Rev. Dan McGlynn, the community’s chaplain, will be the homilist. Interment will be in Parsons Cemetery.
Pallbearers will be Dan McDonald, David Heininger, Eddie Ennels, Mark Gintling, Derek Guridi, and Mark Puzycki.
At the request of Sister Mary Elizabeth, donations may be made to the Joseph House, PO Box 1755, Salisbury, Md. 21802.
Obituary originally published on October 29, 2004
The Daily Times
Salisbury, Maryland
The Joseph House Newsletter for November 2004 paid tribute to Sr. Mary Elizabeth.
NOVEMBER 2004
Sr. Mary Elizabeth — our founder, mother, dreamer, crusader, guiding star — passed into eternal life on October 27, 2004. She died at Peninsula Regional Medical Center in Salisbury from complications from pneumonia. Sister was 89.
We kept vigil with her during her final hours. As her death approached, her Little Sisters and several volunteers and close friends gathered around her bed. We quietly sang hymns, prayed, and whispered good-byes into her ear. Her breathing slowed, and as the sun was rising, she took her last breath. Then she, who was always so alive and vibrant, was gone.
Every day, so many little things we took for granted remind us that she is not here. And yet, she is everywhere, because Joseph House and the Little Sisters would not exist if it was not for her. We live the embodiment of her vision. It sustains and guides us, and we are committed to discovering its depth and richness. Sister Mary Elizabeth will always be our treasure.
There are tears, but we are happy that Sister is relieved of the physical burdens she carried for decades: heart trouble, emphysema, and horrendous coughing spells, to name just a few. She is reunited with her mother and father and innumerable loved ones. And what was it like when she met her beloved St. Joseph, the Blessed Mother, and our Lord Jesus whom she loved her entire life? Our thoughts provide consolation.
Sister lived an incredibly full life. She did many things, touched many people. Her secret was simple: she allowed God to direct her path. She never placed limits on what He wanted or how He wanted to do it. It was always, completely, totally up to Him.
To give your heart to God in the midst of this suffering world means two things: you will be an agent of His healing and a bearer of His joy. This is how Sr. Mary Elizabeth chose to live.
She captivated many, but God was her source and the Gospel was her rule of life. Even as we mourn her loss, there is only one way to honor her memory: to look where she looked, at the Love that enlivens the world and finds its most vulnerable expression in the lives of the poor.
Sister started Joseph House alone. Now there are countless people involved, and with a new intercessor in heaven, too. With the grace and mercy of God, let us continue.
. . . . . . . . . . .
Born in Philadelphia on December 31, 1914, Sister was raised in Baltimore. That is where she started Joseph House (1965) and the Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary (1974) before moving to Salisbury (1978) and becoming part of life on the Eastern Shore of Maryland.
Never at a loss for words, what Sister said revealed her passion, her integrity, her humor, and the deep wells of faith and tenderness that so many were blessed to know.
Here is a selection of quotes from her:
Our age seems to be an age of complexities and clutter, so God has to simplify our final exam for us. The whole exam is there in Matthew 25: 31-46. Best of all, God gave us the answer along with the questions, so we have no real excuse for flunking. (1974)
The idea is to give hope to the hopeless in their own environment. This way they are not robbed of their own individual identity, and the joy of pulling themselves up by their own bootstraps. (1966) I adopted the plan of letting the work build itself through needs that were expressed by the people in the area. (1968) It’s so simple. If a man comes in and tells you he has no job and hasn’t eaten in two days, you don’t give an in-depth analysis of his socio-economic hang-ups. You give him a bag of groceries and a dollar if you have it. If you don’t have a dollar, you keep asking people you know until someone gives it to you. (1969)
When injustice to a category of people is tolerated, there is no justice, and where there is no justice there are no solutions to problems. (1982)
I haven’t accomplished much of anything that I wanted to do, I really haven’t. I mean, I’ve done a lot of things, but I haven’t done anything yet, I feel. Truthfully, I don’t expect to get a great reward for it because it is just a natural virtue that I have, my desire to take care of people. I am just fulfilling what I naturally have to do. It’s a wonderful way to spend your life, I’ll tell you that. (1998) I think God laughs all day long. He does everything and lets us think we do it! (1989)
I was about four years old when I decided to become a nun. Otherwise, I think my occupation would be fishing. (1995) I’m not a namby-pamby do-gooder. (1996) I’m an opportunist. (1998)
I think the most difficult thing anyone has to do is to come up with their own decision that is life-directing. (1995) Each sister has the capacity to do something special for God. We help them develop those capacities, but we never hide our faults. We know we are all broken people healing other broken people through God’s love. There’s no make-believe in our life. That in itself brings us peace. (1987)
Some days we have much, and many days we have little. I tell the sisters much is better, but — much or little — we always have God! (1987)
There is a terrific bond between humility and cheerfulness. Try smiling when you don’t want to. It takes humility. . . Humility and meekness are so important they are the only two virtues Christ asked us to learn personally from Him. (1972)
One day I had an intuition of the depth of the mystery of the Mystical Body of Christ. I saw how Christ bridged all time and that not only had He been crucified at one point but that He is still being crucified, that He was born and is still being born, and I realized the clarity of this, that Christ was being born, suffering, and dying and it was going on as if no time existed at all. (1998) When you see someone who is suffering, you realize that God is in that person. And He is suffering in that person. And if there’s anything I can do to help, to improve that situation, to let someone know his own value, I will do it. (1989)
If you can be faithful through suffering, then you have faith. Everything is a blessing if it’s from the Lord. It doesn’t matter what it looks like. God uses suffering to shape the person, and He uses it to edify others. We are not here to prove God. God is here to prove us. . . I’m not sure what God is like, but I’m sure that He is wonderful. And when I meet Him, it’s going to be a great day. (1988)
Thank you for being part of Joseph House.
We remain,
Your Little Sisters of Jesus and Mary