Sister Francis Gerard Kress, C.S.J., a Sister of St. Joseph, Brentwood, for 87 years, died Jan. 17 at Maria Regina Residence, in Brentwood. She was 104.
Born Irene Pauline Kress, she lived in Coney Island and attended Holy Innocents School, E. Flatbush.
She entered the congregation in 1932 from Holy Innocents parish.
Her ministries included St. Joseph, Pacific St., Prospect Heights, 1933-34; St. Patrick, Long Island City, 1934-38; and Blessed Sacrament, Cypress Hills, 1938-41.
She was part of the second group of her community to minister in Puerto Rico, serving at the Colegio San Jose, San German, 1941-47.
She then served in Epiphany, Williamsburg, 1947-49; St. Ambrose, Bedford-Stuyvesant, 1949-52; St. James, Downtown Brooklyn, 1952-53; St. Pascal Baylon, St. Albans, 1953; Our Lady of Mt. Carmel, L.I.C., 1953-54; Transfiguration, Williamsburg, 1954-58; St. John’s Hospital, Long Island City, 1958-61; Academy of St. Joseph, Brentwood, 1961-62; St. Joseph H.S., Downtown Brooklyn, 1962-65; St. Anthony of Padua, Greenpoint, 1965-73; Brooklyn State Hospital, 1973-77; and Kingsboro Psychiatric Center, 1977-83.
She was an early pioneer of advocating for justice and the environment. She testified before Congress on the need to clean up the environment and worked closely with Mayor Ed Koch in creating the Department of Environmental Protection. She was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor for her tireless efforts.
A Mass of Christian Burial took place in the Maria Regina Chapel Jan. 24. Burial followed in Calvary Cemetery, Brentwood.
Sorry to hear of the loss
I believe she assisted in a mental health clinic in Greenpoint near St. Anthony’s during the 1970
‘. If the above is true she pinpointed my mother’s forgetfulness as Alzheimer’s in 1976, 43 years ago we didn’t know much about Alzheimer’s, but Sister Francis was there for my mother and I.