Sister Teresa Dermody, Sister Maria Josita, was born April 7, 1934, in the Bronx. She was one of four daughters born to Fred and Margaret Weber Dermody. Teresa attended Our Saviour Elementary School in the Bronx, Cathedral High School in Manhattan, and worked for a year after graduation. Teresa entered the Sisters of Charity of New York on September 8, 1952, joining her sister Rita, Sister Miriam Christine (+ October 1, 2009), who entered two years earlier in February.

Sister Josita earned a B.A. in mathematics from College of Mount Saint Vincent and an M.A. in mathematics from Manhattan College in the Bronx. New York State awarded her Permanent Certification in mathematics. In 1996 she earned a Certificate in Theology from Saint John University in Queens.

Sister Teresa’s 56 years of active ministry were dedicated to the field of education as a teacher of mathematics. On the elementary level, she served in Saint Denis, Yonkers, Saint Emeric, Manhattan, Visitation and Saint Francis Xavier in the Bronx. Her high school teaching years were at York Catholic in Pennsylvania, Cardinal Spellman High School in the Bronx, and a combined 20 years at Saint Barnabas in the Bronx where she also fulfilled the role of campus minister.

Additionally, she assisted in the finance office of the College of Mount Saint Vincent and spent sabbatical time at Saint Stephen Priory in Dover, Massachusetts. Sister Teresa retired in 2011, later joining the first group of sisters to form a retirement community in the present New Jewish Home in the Bronx.

Sister Teresa entered eternal life December 25, 2023, at New York Presbyterian – Allen Hospital in Manhattan in the 71st year of commitment as a Sister of Charity of New York.

What everyone remembers as outstanding about Sister Teresa was her positive approach to life and her easy laugh. She never had a negative or complaining word to say and greeted all, stranger or friend, with her warm open smile. She often sat by the elevator on the ninth floor of the Kittay Senior Apartments to welcome the nursing aides when they came for their daily shift.

She was steady and predictable in her living and loved taking trips, as long as her good friend Sister Eleanor O’Doherty (+ April 2, 2010) planned them.

During the early Mass of Christmas Day, the Church asks God to “pour forth . . . your grace into our hearts . . . so we may be brought to the glory of the Resurrection …”. Sister Teresa, you have lived a grace-filled life, and the promised glory is yours in the Yes you now say to the call of our faithful and merciful God. Go forth in peace.