Jenner Law mourns the loss of our friend Gemma Hoskins. Gemma died Sunday after a recent illness. She was 73. Survivors of childhood sexual abuse in Maryland have lost one of their fiercest champions, and those of us who knew her have lost a friend who could light up any room she walked into.
A Teacher First
Gemma’s story begins in a classroom at Archbishop Keough High School, an all-girls Catholic school in Baltimore. She arrived as a freshman in 1966 and felt an immediate bond with a young nun on the faculty, Sister Catherine “Cathy” Cesnik. Sister Cathy taught English and drama, played guitar, wrote musicals for her students to perform, and welcomed them into her home. Gemma later compared her to Maria in The Sound of Music, and she credited Sister Cathy with inspiring her to become a teacher.
She became a remarkable one. Over 26 years in the classroom, Gemma was named Harford County Teacher of the Year in 1991 while teaching fifth grade at Magnolia Middle School. A year later, she was named Maryland Teacher of the Year for her work with fifth graders at Jarrettsville Elementary School, where she also led the drive to make the school smoke-free. She went on to mentor teachers in Baltimore County Public Schools. Even then, Gemma was the person who saw something wrong and simply decided to fix it.
Her life was not without heartbreak. Her husband, Ernie, whom she called her soulmate and best friend, died of cancer in 1989, when they were both just 35. Gemma carried that loss with the same grace and resolve she brought to everything else.
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The Question She Would Not Let Go
On November 7, 1969, Sister Cathy disappeared. Her body was found on January 3, 1970, in a wooded dumping area in Baltimore County. Her killing has never been solved. Former Keough students later accused Father A. Joseph Maskell, a chaplain and counselor at the school, of sexually abusing girls there in the 1960s and 1970s. Gemma and many others came to believe that Sister Cathy knew of the abuse and was killed because of what she knew.
In 2013, Gemma raised the subject on Facebook, and Keough alumnae began to share their stories. She and Abbie Schaub, her classmate, set out to find the truth. They tracked down dozens of former students and other potential witnesses. They made a formidable team. Abbie was the careful researcher and keeper of documents; Gemma was the outgoing investigator who knocked on doors and went to sources in person. Their Facebook group, “Justice for Catherine Cesnik and Joyce Malecki,” had fewer than 1,000 members shortly before their work reached a national audience. Afterward, a successor group grew to more than 80,000.
That work became the foundation of The Keepers, the seven-part 2017 Netflix documentary series. The series brought the voices of Keough survivors to viewers around the world and put Gemma on national television, including The View.
A Voice for Survivors
The Keepers made Gemma famous, but fame was never the point. After the series aired, survivors and people with information began reaching out to her from around the world. She never pretended to be something she was not. She described herself as a retired teacher, not a lawyer, doctor, or therapist, but one who knew where to send people for the help they needed. For many survivors, Gemma was the first person who listened.
She and Abbie became outspoken advocates for survivors of childhood sexual abuse, and both testified in Annapolis as lawmakers weighed eliminating the statute of limitations that had kept so many survivors out of court. In April 2023, the Maryland Attorney General’s Office released its report documenting the abuse of more than 600 children and young people by 156 clergy members and others associated with the Archdiocese of Baltimore. That same month, the General Assembly passed the Child Victims Act of 2023, and Governor Wes Moore signed it days later. Gemma was a key advocate for the law, which eliminated the civil statute of limitations for child sexual abuse and allowed survivors to bring previously time-barred claims against their abusers and the institutions that protected them. Every survivor who now has a day in court in Maryland owes something to Gemma. So do we, and so do our clients.
She kept the story alive in every way she could. With podcaster Shane Waters, she co-hosted Foul Play: Who Killed Sister Cathy? The two published 95 episodes over nearly eight years, far more than they first planned. She also spoke with survivors and raised money for the Sister Cathy Cesnik Survivors Fund.
“Gemma was never a lawyer, but she did more to open Maryland’s courthouse doors to survivors than most lawyers ever will,” said Robert K. Jenner, founder of Jenner Law. “She listened when no one else would, she refused to let the truth stay buried, and she stood beside survivors in Annapolis until the law changed. Many of the survivors we represent today have their day in court because Gemma Hoskins would not quit.”
Gemma also lent her voice to survivors who came after her. She recorded a video for Jenner Law’s Survivor & Advocate Stories series, “An Advocate for Survivors,” which you can watch on our Archdiocese of Baltimore abuse page. It appears alongside the stories of survivors who, like Gemma, chose to speak so that others would know they are not alone.
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Gemma the Author
Gemma told her own story in her first book, Keeping On: How I Came to Know Why I Was Born, released by Mascot Books in November 2020. The memoir moves from the investigation behind The Keepers, back through the joys and hardships of her earlier life, and forward to the years after the series, including the people who stood by her and the boundaries she learned to draw. It is the story of a woman who spent her life sensing a purpose waiting for her, and who found it. As she put it when the book came out, “I’m supposed to be doing this work.” Before its official release, she had already signed and shipped nearly 500 copies to readers across Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada.
Her second book, published in 2021, showed the other side of Gemma: pure joy. Teddy Tales: A Puppy Primer stars her dog Teddy, whom many viewers will remember from The Keepers. Written for dog lovers everywhere, the book features artwork created entirely by Teddy’s Facebook fans. It was a fitting tribute to the community she built online, and to the beach life she and Teddy loved on Maryland’s Eastern Shore.
Gemma was a devoted animal lover all her life. When Teddy died, she grieved him deeply, but she did not close her heart. She opened her home to a shepherd named Misty as a foster, and Misty never left. Gemma proudly called her a “foster fail,” which any dog lover knows is the happiest kind of failure. Misty was at Gemma’s side in her final chapter, living proof that her capacity for love never ran out.
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What She Leaves Behind
Those who knew Gemma away from the cameras saw the same fire. Mary Beth Diaz, a paralegal at Jenner Law and Gemma’s longtime friend, remembers her this way: “Often I would receive a call or text from Gemma just saying, “Hey it’s me, just checking on you”. Not because she heard something was wrong or something had happened, but because she genuinely knew how difficult this work is but also reminded me that this is what we were meant to do. We made an agreement, she would carry me up the hill when I needed it and I would carry her when she needed me, no questions asked. Gemma showed that hard work, determination and straightening each other’s crown is how we need to live life. People saw the investigator on television. I got to know the friend who never let anyone feel alone. That was the real Gemma.”
Sister Cathy’s murder remains unsolved, and Gemma did not live to see that answer. But she saw survivors believed, a state reckoning with its past, and a law rewritten so that the courthouse doors are open. She was a teacher to the end, and she taught all of us that persistence is its own kind of justice.
Our thoughts are with Gemma’s family and friends, and with the survivor community she loved. Rest well, Gemma. We will keep on.
— Rob Jenner, Jenner Law, P.C.