America's Largest Catholic Newspaper
Sister Annunciata Bethell, O.S.U., who served senior citizens in the Bedford Park community of the Bronx, where she founded a major senior citizens center, died Nov. 12 at Schervier Nursing Care Center. She was 90. From a base at St. Philip Neri parish, she was founding director of a senior citizens program in 1972 in the parish hall which soon expanded to become the Bedford Park Multi-Service Center. It later was renamed the Sister Annunciata Bethell Senior Center after its founder, who remained executive director until the mid-1990s. She also was a board member and advisor to many community and health organizations, including Mosholu Housing Corporation, Montefiore Medical Center Advisory Board and Bronx Community Home Care Advisory Board. Sister Annunciata also taught at several Bronx schools: St. Philip Neri, 1960-1972; St. Angela Merici, 1950-1960 and 1936-1939; Our Lady of Mercy, 1944-1949; and St. Jerome's, 1939-1944. Born in the Bronx, she entered the Ursulines in 1933 and professed final vows in 1938. She held a bachelor's and a master's degree from Fordham University and a master's in social work from Hunter College. A Funeral Mass was offered Nov. 16 at the Ursuline Bedford Park Convent, with burial in St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx.
