Dr. Mary Lucille Wiss, 88, died Saturday, August 2, 2014, at Pikeville Medical Center, with her beloved sister in Christ, Dr. Mary Pauline Fox, by her side. Born August 7, 1925, in Chicago, Illinois, she moved with her family at age 10 to Columbus, Ohio, where she completed her elementary and secondary education.

She attended Ohio State University for three years, from 1942 through December 1944. On January 18, 1945, she joined the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, making her vows on July 19, 1947.

A cradle Catholic, Dr. Wiss told Elizabeth Bishop, for an article in Cross Roads, a newspaper of the Catholic Diocese of Lexington, that she dreamed of becoming a doctor, even as a child. After her novitiate, her Catholic community offered her the opportunity to study medicine. She completed her undergraduate work at two Catholic institutions of higher learning: Spalding University in Louisville, founded in 1814 by the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth; and Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., the oldest Catholic and Jesuit University in the country, established in 1789.

While living in Washington, Dr. Wiss missioned at Georgetown University Hospital. She earned a bachelor's degree in chemistry in 1947, and graduated cum laude from Georgetown University School of Medicine in 1953.

Dr. Wiss completed her internship and surgical residency at St. Joseph's Infirmary in Louisville (1953-1958). After finishing her board exams in early 1959, she sailed for India in March of that year, where she became medical director at Nazareth Hospital, Mokameh, Bihar, India.

Following some serious illness, she returned to the United States in September 1964. Because of her health at the time, she left the religious community in 1965. Later in the year she accepted the post of Medical Director at Frontier Nursing Service in Hyden, Kentucky, where she served until 1969 when she joined Dr. Ballard Cassady in private practice in Pikeville.

If you were one of Dr. Wiss's patients, you knew that prayer covered everything she did. She prayed with her patients before an examination or surgery. As a surgeon, she shared life and death with her patients. She told Elizabeth Bishop for her CrossRoads article that she believed "in order to cope with death, one must be comfortable with his own mortality." Speaking of her own career, she said, "The longest mile is the death of a child during surgery.

Faith is all you've got to sustain you. I don't know how doctors do it who don't have faith." After serving the people of Eastern Kentucky for 21 years, she retired from private practice in August 1990.

Dr. Wiss joined St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church in 1969. She was the first woman accepted for membership in the Pikeville Rotary Club. The year was 1981. She later served as club president.

Dr. Wiss was a long-time member of Delta Kappa Gamma, the teachers' honorary society; GFWC/KFWC – Pikeville (Woman's Club); and Daughters of the American Revolution, of which she was local regent.

A member of the Pike County Medical Society, she was the first female Chief of Staff at Pikeville Methodist Hospital, now Pikeville Medical Center.

In addition, she held memberships in the Kentucky and American Medical Associations, was a Fellow, American College of Surgeons, Kentucky Chapter; Diplomate, American Board of Surgery; Fellow, Royal College of Surgeons of Canada; and a Fellow, International College of Surgeons.

She was the first female surgeon in Kentucky certified by the American Board of Surgery, and the first female president of the Kentucky Chapter, American College of Surgeons.

On November 20, 2012, the Pike County Fiscal Court honored Dr. Wiss for her "important and numerous contributions" to Pike County.

She was well known in the region and state for her hobbies as well as her medical service. She won a state award for her needlework during the 1976 American Bicentennial at the Capitol Expo-Homecoming's Needlework Fair in Frankfort. She raised exotic orchids in her greenhouse. And for several years she taught basket-weaving and donated many of her own basket creations for various community fundraising projects.

Dr. Wiss was preceded in death by her parents, Lucille Manny Wiss and John Edgar Wiss.

She is survived by her beloved Christian sister of 48 years, Dr. Mary Pauline Fox; her special Christian sister, Lucille Howell; one brother, John Wiss, of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; two sisters, Martha (Bill) Blakeman of Blacklick, Ohio, and Margaret (Dexter) Thornton of Williamston, Michigan; and several dozen precious nieces and nephews.

Catholic Funeral Mass for Dr. Mary Wiss will be conducted by Father Richard Watson at 10 a.m. Wednesday, August 6, 2014, at St. Francis of Assisi Catholic Church, South College Street, Pikeville.

Visitation at JW Call Funeral Home, Pikeville, is set for Tuesday, August 5, from 6-9 p.m. with the Rosary Service at 8 p.m. Services in Pikeville are under direction of JW Call Funeral Home.

Following mass, graveside services will convene at 3 p.m. at Barbourville City Cemetery, 106 KY 255, Barbourville, Kentucky 40506. Services in Barbourville are under direction of Hopper Funeral Home.

In lieu of flowers, Dr. Wiss hoped that her friends would make contributions in her memory to the St. Francis Catholic Church Building Fund, 132 Bryan Street, Pikeville, Kentucky 41501.