Sister Anna Doherty has been remembered as a “change maker” whose dedication to the people of Derry made a difference to countless lives.
The Sister of Mercy is best known for the Resource Centre in the north of the city, a pioneering approach to community development which brought together a range of services under one roof.
From advice on welfare rights to help setting up play groups and providing meals on wheels, it provided vital support at the height of the Troubles for families housed in large new estates afflicted with high unemployment.
The hub remains a vibrant centre for community activities and inspiration to others five decades on.
Sr Anna credited her parents, Tony and Mary, and the people of the Foyle Road where she grew up in the Long Tower parish as powerful role models for her own life.
She came to love the Sisters of Mercy as a pupil in their schools in Artillery Street and Thornhill College, where she insisted on boarding for her final year.
She said she knew at the age of 12 that she had a religious vocation and entered the convent at Thornhill in 1954, taking her final vows six years later.
She graduated at around the same time from St Mary’s teacher training college in Belfast and her first posting was back in Artillery Street.
She also taught children with special educational needs in Bridge Street before moving to St Patrick’s Infants’ School in Pennyburn, where she was teaching vice-principal until 1972.
Sr Anna is most associated, however, with the Resource Centre in nearby Carnhill, serving the greater Shantallow area.
Established in 1974, fellow Sister of Mercy Deirdre Mullan said that when Anna saw a need, she simply “dreamt a solution into being”.
“The Resource Centre existed long before there was any community development in place. In the 1970s, during dark times, when sprawling estates had been built without much-needed infrastructure, Anna saw a major gap,” she said.
“Challenges like welfare rights, the needs of the vulnerable elderly and the need to support women were just some of the issues she immediately set out to improve. In 1974, Sr Anna and her team of workers began a centre which, 50 years later, is still vibrant.”
Sr Anna later served as a chaplain at Foyle Hospice, working closely with Bishop Edward Daly to provide spiritual support to people receiving end of life care, and set up a retreat and conference centre in the former Thornhill Convent, as well as being involved in establishing the Hope Alive counselling service.
Your influence and legacy made a difference in so many lives. You’ll never be forgotten
— Sr Deirdre Mullan
In retirement, she told Catherine McGinty, then of Local Woman Magazine, that she had come to a great appreciation of how enriched her life had been through community.
Sr Deirdre, who worked on education and justice projects with the United Nations for over a decade, said she helped people believe in themselves.
“Because of you, others have taken up the baton and recognise that our greatest gift to each other as human beings is in knowing we rise by lifting others,” she said.
“Your influence and legacy made a difference in so many lives. You’ll never be forgotten.”
Sr Anna Doherty died on May 11 and was buried at Thornhill after funeral Mass at Our Lady of Lourdes Church in Steelstown on Tuesday. She is survived by her siblings Jim, Pat and Margaret.