Sister Margaret Mary Kitka, OSF

May 10, 1911 - April 6, 1979

Sister Margaret Mary Kitka, a member of the School Sisters of St. Francis, died on April 6, 1979, in Pittsburgh, Pa. She was in her 51st year of religious life and just a month shy of her 68th birthday.

Margaret was born to Peter and Anna (Zuffa) Kitka on May 10, 1911. She entered the community in 1927, professing first vows in 1928 and final vows in 1935. Sister held a bachelor’s degree in English and social studies from Mercyhurst College; a master’s degree in education from Duquesne University, and a degree in secondary administration from Seton Hall University.

Over the course of five decades, Sister Margaret Mary taught at Catholic grade schools in the Pennsylvania towns of Pittsburgh, McKees Rocks, Tarentum, Hellertown, Barnesboro, Erie, Bethlehem and Reading. In both the earliest and later years of her teaching career, Sister Margaret Mary taught at and served as principal of St. Gabriel School on Pittsburgh’s Northside. In the 1970s, she taught social studies and served as principal of our former Mount Assisi Academy in Bellevue.

“In 1972, Sister Margaret Mary purchased our Gestetner mimeograph machine,” wrote Sister Joan McMullen. “Through the years, it was a great aid in producing neat reproductions.  I will always be grateful for her farsightedness in making this purchase.”

Sister also served our community as a local superior, assistant community school supervisor of the Pittsburgh Province, community school supervisor in the Bethlehem Province, treasurer of the Bethlehem Province, and as a delegate to the 1960 General Chapter.

“I will remember Sister Margaret Mary for her willingness to help out in school or convent. She did this in a very unassuming way.  Her sense of justice and fairness and charity permeated her way of living,” recalled Sister Mary Ann Pavlik. “When assigned any work or chore, she aimed at perfection. In her final illness, she was very appreciative of any endeavor to help her or in any way show an interest in her heroic manner of accepting the inevitable.”

Sister Margaret Mary is buried in St. Francis Cemetery at Mt. Assisi Place in Pittsburgh, Pa.