Antoinette M. Beland
FORT SMITH - Antoinette M. Beland died December 24, 2023 in Fort Smith, Arkansas. She was born in Fort Smith on May 5, 1938. Her parents were Ruth Williams Beland and Louis E. Beland, Sr. She was the third of seven children.
Antoinette attended Immaculate Conception grade school, Saint Anne’s Academy, Barry College, and graduated from Rosary College in River Forrest, Illinois. She worked in a hematology research laboratory at the National Institute of Health in Bethesda, Maryland and then at Saint Elizabeth’s Hospital in Boston, Massachusetts.
She then went to school and attained her national registration in Medical Technology. She worked in medical laboratories for several years.
Antoinette then went to the University of Arkansas and received her Master’s Degree in education. She taught Biology and Honors Anatomy and Physiology at Southside High School for twenty-three years. She was the head of the science department of twenty years.
In her younger days, Antoinette was an avid tennis player. She and Mackie Cutting were Arkansas State Champions in Women’s doubles.
When she was Fifty-five, she decided to learn to fly an airplane. She received her private pilot’s license on her fifty-seventh birthday. She and her good friend Dorothy Hosford, bought a Cessna 172, and enjoyed many flights over several years.
Antoinette and Dot loved Lake Tenkiller, had a lake house there, and had a boat on the lake for many years.
After retirement in 2000, Antoinette and Dot did volunteer work at Trinity Junior High School Library, Saint Edward Mercy Hospital, and Immaculate Conception Church ladies Auxiliary. They endowed the library at Trinity Junior High, and also endowed scholarships at UAFS, Subiaco Academy, and were strong supporters of St. Scholastica Monastery and the Community School of the Arts.
Antoinette was very grateful that she attained the rank of Grand Dame Commander with the Knights and Dames of the Equestrian Order of the Holy Sepulchre of Jerusalem—a Papal Order.
She was predeceased by her sister, Mary Ruth Schultz, and her brother, Leon Beland.
She is survived by her sisters, Stephanie Ferrari, and Louise Terry (Ray); and brothers, Louis Beland (Trisha) and Ben Beland (Linda); and numerous nieces and nephews.
Rosary will be 6:00 PM Thursday, December 28, 2023 at Edwards Funeral Home Chapel. Funeral Mass will be 10:00 AM Friday at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church, with burial to follow at Calvary Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be to Trinity Junior High School or Immaculate Conception Catholic Church.
Online condolences may be sent to: www.edwardsfuneralhome.com