A Mass of Christian Burial was celebrated Dec. 3 in Founders Chapel on the campus of Mount St. Mary College, Newburgh, N.Y., for Dominican Sister Catherine Wescott who died Nov. 27 in The Wartburg, Mount Vernon, N.Y. She was 89.

Born Sept. 18, 1923 in Gloucester, Sister Catherine (formerly Sister Mary Innocent) entered the novitiate of the Dominican Sisters of Newburgh Sept. 7, 1941; made her first profession June 17, 1943, and her final profession Aug. 25, 1949. Sister Catherine earned a bachelor of science degree in secondary education and a master of arts degree in educational psychology from Villanova University, Villanova, Pa., and a doctorate in special education administration from the University of Colorado. She also spent two years pursuing studies in the Dominican House of Studies, Washington, D.C.

Sister Catherine began her ministry years as an elementary teacher in the Diocese of Trenton serving in St. Joseph School, Toms River, from 1944 to 1945, and St. Cecelia School, Iselin (now part of the Metuchen Diocese). She also taught and served as principal of schools in North Carolina, Newburgh, N.Y., and other parts of New Jersey. In 1981, she moved to Gallup, N.M., where she was a professor in the University of New Mexico until 1997, when she retired to the Dominican Sisters of Hope Newburgh Center and then The Wartburg in Mount Vernon.

Sister Catherine is survived by a number of cousins.

Burial was in the Dominican Sisters’ Cemetery of Mount St. Mary College, Newburgh.

Donations in Sister Catherine’s memory can be made to The Dominican Sisters of Hope, Development Office, 299 North Highland Ave., Ossining, N.Y., 10562-2327.