Sister Mary Beth Read, a member of the Ursuline Sisters who graduated from Ursuline Academh in Wilmington, died March 9 at Andrus on Hudson Nursing Home in Hastings-On-Hudson, N.Y. She was 80 and had been a member of the Ursulines for 60 years.
Sister Mary Beth was born in Philadelphia. After graduating from Ursuline, she earned degrees from Catholic University of America and Fordham University.
Her ministry with the Ursuline Sisters included time in the South Bronx, which inspired her to participate in the Archdiocese of New York’s Spanish-language program. That allowed her to study in Puerto Rico. She ministered primarily in education and spent time in New York. Sister Mary Beth also served in parish ministry at St. Jerome’s Parish in the Bronx, which is where she began her life as a religious woman, and at St. John the Baptist Parish in Yonkers, N.Y.
Sister Mary Beth spent more than 25 years at the Academy of Mount St. Ursula in the Bronx. She was principal from 1992-2008, according to the academy’s Instagram account, and also was a teacher.
She is survived by her brothers, James and Robert, sisters-in-law Roberta and Paula, and nieces and nephews. A brother, John, predeceased her.
Funeral services will take place March 14 at the Ursuline Province Center, 1338 North Ave., New Rochelle, N.Y. Visitation is 9:15-10:15 a.m., followed by the Mass of Christian Burial at 10:30. It will be livestreamed at www.facebook.com/events/26576560998595973. Burial will be at Gate of Heaven Cemetery.
Donations in Sister Mary Beth’s name can be made to the Ursuline Sisters Development Office, 1338 North Ave., New Rochelle, NY 10804.
