Mary Ann Wordell

Mary Ann Wordell, age 78 of Fall River, died Tuesday, December 26, 2017 in Charlton Memorial Hospital, surrounded by her loving family. Born in Fall River, daughter of the late Clyde A. and Alice (Boulay) Wordell, she was a graduate of B.M.C. Durfee High School and the former Truesdale Hospital School of Nursing. She worked as RN head nurse/nurse manager at the former Truesdale Hospital and at Charlton Memorial Hospital for 35 years until her retirement in 1995. Mary Ann had a wide range of interests from the history of Fall River and Steep Brook, to genealogy, birding, gardening, traveling and arboriculture. Upon retirement Mary Ann gathered a group of friends and Fall River Garden Club members to organize the Fall River Street Tree Program, Inc. in 1996. That organization has planted thousands of trees in the city, established a Memorial Grove at North Park to honor all Veterans, promulgated the formation of a city tree ordinance and the first tree commission in Fall River. Mary Ann became an activist for urban forestry and received several awards on the state level for her commitment to the planting and care of trees. In 2013 the city’s first tree farm was named in her honor. Mary Ann was an active member of the Truesdale Hospital Nurses Alumnae Association serving on various committees as a board member. For many years she was the editor of the Alumnae newsletter. Her love for friends, co-workers and classmates from Truesdale Hospital and the Truesdale Hospital School of Nursing never waned and inspired her to organize two major reunions, doctors and employees that brought Truesdale Hospital “family” together years after the hospital closed as a health care facility. She was a member of the Friends of Oak Grove, Green Futures, Greater Fall River Land Conservancy and the Fall River Garden Club. Mary Ann served as Fall River Garden Club president, secretary and environmental chair plus six years as a representative from Fall River on the state Environmental Committee of the Garden Club Federation of Massachusetts. She is survived by beloved daughters, Jennifer Dias-Rezendes and her husband Ronald and Kristin Martins and her husband Terry; five cherished grandchildren Sierra Alice, Nicholas and Sophia Rezendes, Brennan and Bennett Martins and a brother, William Wordell all of Fall River; cousins, Penny Phillips and Alice Garvin and her dear friends, Joyce Emmett Aylward and Mary Lapre Bennett. Her Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday, January 2, 2018 at 12pm in the Waring-Sullivan Home at Cherry Place, 178 Winter St., Fall River. Visiting hours will be Tuesday from 10am to 12pm prior to her service. Burial will be in Notre Dame Cemetery, Fall River. Flowers are welcome or please consider making the world greener by donating to a fund that helps provide to Fall River’s environmental advocacy organization Green Futures, PO Box 144, Fall River, MA 02724 or to the Fall River Street Tree Planting Program Inc., c/o Nancy Fell, 68 Bigelow St., Fall River, MA 02720.