A funeral Mass for Sister Carolyn Bell was celebrated at the Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Sparkill, N.Y., Feb. 13. A member of the Dominican Sisters of Sparkill, she died Feb. 8 at Siena Hall in Sparkill. Sister Carolyn was 89 years old.
Born Loretta Carolyn in Jennings, she entered the Dominican Congregation of Our Lady of the Rosary in Sparkill in 1949 and received the name Sister Mary Carolyn. She professed her first vows in 1951 and final vows in 1956.
Sister Carolyn received a bachelor’s degree in education from Webster College (now university) in St Louis in 1959; she attended Saint Louis University for religious studies in 1974, and obtained additional education from St. Mary’s Health Center.
Sister Carolyn taught at St. James the Greater School in St. Louis from 1952-57, 1966-68 and 1970-75; Little Flower School in Richmond Heights, 1957-66; and Holy Redeemer School in Webster Groves, 1969-70. She served in pastoral ministry in St. Louis at Maria Fonte Monastery, 1975-76; St. Mark Parish, 1976-78; St. Joseph Hospital, 1978-87; St. Louis State Hospital, 1979-80; the Apartment Community in Belleville, Ill., 1987-91; DePaul Health Center 1991-97; and St. John Mercy Medical Center 1997-2002. Sister Carolyn also taught at schools in New York.
Survivors include her brothers, Joseph Bell and Alexis Bell, and her sister, Patricia Kelley. Burial was at the Our Lady of the Rosary Chapel in Sparkill.
