Born in Philadelphia on Dec. 31, 1914, Sister was the daughter of 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. Sister had four brothers.

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 final project to help those in need was the Joseph House Workshop, a residential job-readiness program for homeless men. The Workshop opened in 2005.

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 left behind an example of how each person can make a difference.

Sister died on October 27, 2004. She had suffered a pulmonary hemorrhage the night before in her room at St. Joseph Cloister. She was taken to the hospital where we kept vigil with her throughout the night.

Fr. Michael Roark from our parish came to administer the sacrament of the sick. We quietly sang some of Sister's favorite hymns, such as the "Servant Song," and recited the Abandonment Prayer of Brother Charles. Shortly after 7:00 a.m., as light from the rising sun appeared in her hospital room window, Sister breathed her last.

A Mass of Christian burial was celebrated on November 1, 2004, at St. Francis de Sales Church in Salisbury, Maryland. The Most Rev. Michael A. Saltarelli, Bishop of Wilmington, presided at the Mass, and Rev. Dan McGlynn, our chaplain, gave the homily. Sister was buried at Parsons Cemetery in Salisbury. She was laid to rest in a simple wooden casket made by Mr. David Pogge.