Sister Mary Esther, 92, parochial school teacher Sister...

Sister Mary Esther, 92, parochial school teacher

Sister Mary Esther Kehoe, who taught in area parochial schools, died Thursday of leukemia at Greater Baltimore Medical Center. She was 92.

In a teaching career that began in 1932, Sister Esther had assignments at St. Teresa in Washington, and at St. Brigid, St. Matthew and St. Thomas Aquinas, all in Baltimore. At St. Mary's in Govans, she taught religion, math, reading and social studies from 1973 until 1988.

She was active in community service at St. Mary's parish until 1995, when she did similar work at Villa Assumpta, the motherhouse of the School Sisters of Notre Dame in the Woodbrook section of Baltimore County. In 1996, she retired.

Esther Kehoe was born and raised in Govans. She was a 1926 graduate of Notre Dame of Maryland High School and did clerical work until she entered the School Sisters of Notre Dame in 1930.

She professed her vows in 1933 and earned a teacher-training certificate from Catholic University of America in 1935. In 1960, she received a bachelor's degree in education from the College of Notre Dame of Maryland.

"She was a quiet person, and her students were devoted to her," said Sister Caroleen Baummer, administrator of pastoral services at Villa Assumpta.

A Mass of the Resurrection for Sister Esther will be offered at 10 a.m. today at Villa Assumpta, 6401 N. Charles St.

She is survived by a niece, Sheila Kehoe of New York City; and two cousins, Sister Lillian Byrne and Esther Feldman, both of Baltimore.

The Rev. Robert T. Gill, 77, Methodist associate pastor

The Rev. Robert Thomas Gill, retired associate pastor of Hunt's Memorial United Methodist Church in Riderwood who counseled terminally ill people at the Joseph Richey House, died Aug. 14 of complications of a stroke at the North Eutaw Street hospice.

The longtime Towson resident was 77.

Mr. Gill studied with Elizabeth Kubler Ross, the internationally known author of Death and Dying. He found a special ministry in counseling terminally ill patients at the Joseph Richey House, family members said. He also worked with the New Life Clinic in Mount Washington, a spiritual healing group.

He graduated from Wesley Theological Seminary in Washington in 1980 and was ordained a Methodist minister that year. He served churches in Cockeysville, Sykesville and Towson before joining Hunt's Memorial Church in 1989. He retired in 1994.

Born and raised in Philadelphia, Mr. Gill was a graduate of a parochial school there and served in the Navy during World War II.

He earned a bachelor's degree in philosophy and a master's degree in English, both from Villanova University. He entered the Augustinian Fathers, a Roman Catholic religious order, earned a master's degree in theology and was ordained a priest in 1953.

He taught at Bonner High School, a parochial school in Drexel Hill, Pa., was principal of the Augustinian Academy on Staten Island from 1962 to 1965 and taught at Villanova, where he was dean of men from 1965 until 1968.

He left the priesthood in 1968 over philosophical differences with the Roman Catholic Church, moved to Towson and taught in Baltimore County public schools from 1969 to 1979.

His marriage to Sherry Bowling ended in divorce.

Services were held Saturday.

He is survived by two daughters, Kelly Gill Chesser of Pinehurst and Erin Gill Reilly of Dorset, Vt.; and six grandchildren.