Sister Mary Pires

The arrangements are as follows: Viewing at Providence House Chapel, Kingston, on Monday, May 28, 2012 from 2-5 p.m. and 6-8 p.m. Wake Service on Monday, May 28 at 7:30 p.m. Mass of Resurrection on Tuesday, May 29 at 3:30 p.m. in the Chapel at Sacred Heart High School.

We commend to your charity the soul of our beloved 

Sister Mary Pires 

who departed this life on May 22, 2012 

in the sixty-first year of her religious life.

Age: 85 years, 9 months, 18 days

Resurrection Service: Tuesday, May 29, 2012 at 3:30 p.m.

"...you entrusted me with five talents; see, I have made five more...." Well done, good and faithful servant....Come, share your Master’s joy. [Matt. 25:20–21]

Mary, one of seven children born to Manuel and Mary [Dores], left her home in Kingston, Mass., to enter the Sisters of Divine Providence in Pittsburgh, Pa. Named in religious life Sister Joseph Mary, she first served for two years as a teacher in Pittsburgh before returning to teach at Sacred Heart High School in Kingston. Soon after taking first vows, the New England Province of Our Lady of Divine Providence was established in Kingston. She remained in Community for most of her life within the New England area, at first teaching in several parish schools, as well as at Sacred Heart.

After Vatican II, as changes came to religious life, she returned to her baptismal name. With a number of Sisters doing the same, and with several of them now named Sister Mary, she was ever-after identified with her family name firmly attached to her first name.

The God who called Sister Mary to consecrate her life, gifted her with many talents. Always an expert cook and baker, Sister Mary used her culinary skills to bring joy to her Sisters in Community and to her friends and family as well. After a number of years in schools, the Community asked her to return to study, and Sister Mary became a registered dietician, spending eight years serving at the VA Hospital in Providence, RI. In later years, she also assisted in the finance office at Sacred Heart High School before moving into a new field of parish outreach to the elderly. Sister Mary served in a grandparent adoption program, ministered as head of the Love Program for St. Joseph Parish in Kingston, brought the Eucharist to residents of Evanswood, now named Wingate, also in Kingston, visited people who were homebound, and for many years, reached out to the frail and lonely in a ministry of compassion and care.

Devoted to her large family, Sister Mary was always interested in their activities and was proud of their achievements. Her many relatives always looked forward to her visits, and she never seemed able to arrive at their homes without a freshly baked delicacy for all to enjoy. Though in recent years Sister Mary had been more limited by a need for oxygen and the use of an electric wheelchair, every week, she visited the Senior Center in Kingston, where she continued her ministry and enjoyed participating in their activities. With the Sisters as well, Sister Mary liked the challenge of a good Scrabble or pinochle game.

Now she can see the eternal One, face to face. In the words of Matthew’s Gospel, she affirms, "...you entrusted me with five talents; see, I have made five more." And the God of Providence, to whom she dedicated her life, responds, "Well done, good and faithful servant....Come, share my eternal home."

If you would like to make a gift to the Sisters of Divine Providence in memory of Sister Mary, visit our donation page