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June 22, 2017
Mercy Sister Mary Martha Kiening died in Oakland on May 18. She was 105 years old and entered the Sisters of Mercy in 1935.Sister Mary Martha attended San Francisco’s St. Paul elementary and high school, studied nursing at the sisters’ St. Mary’s College of Nursing and was a nursing supervisor at St. Mary’s Hospital, San Francisco and other Mercy facilities. In 1945 she began a 30-year ministry as nursing instructor. After five years at St. Mary’s College of Nursing, she was sent to The Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C., for a degree in psychiatric nursing and returned to teach classes at St. Mary’s and the University of San Francisco.
Sister Mary Martha, who participated in the founding of McAuley Psychiatric Institute at St. Mary’s, taught until 1976 when she was sent as superior to Mercy Hospital, San Diego. She returned in 1980 to psychiatric nursing as a member of the staff of McAuley’s outpatient clinic for another 15 years before she retired.
A funeral Mass was celebrated May 22 at Marian Oaks Life Center Chapel in Burlingame with interment at Holy Cross Cemetery, Colma.
Remembrances may be made to the Sisters of Mercy, 2300 Adeline Drive, Burlingame 94010.