When Sister Ann Patrice Cecil was growing up on a farm her father managed along the outskirts of Owensboro, Ky., the two constants in her life were faith in God and an appreciation of the land. “I was fascinated by watching things grow,” she said. “In the evening as a young child, I would stand…
Vocation Stories
Every Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph was called by God to consecrated life. But how each of them heard that call is unique. You can learn their vocation stories below.
My Vocation Story – Sister Eva Boone
Sister Eva Boone went to heaven on Jan. 15, 2025. Sister Eva Boone’s earliest memories are of her farm home in Howardstown – a small community “nestled in a valley surrounded by the beautiful knobs of central Kentucky.” The knobs – the wooded, cone-shaped hills so distinctive to Nelson and surrounding counties – provided a…
My Vocation Story – Sister Rebecca White
Sister Rebecca White’s earliest memories are of her family’s cotton farm in rural Glennonville, Mo. “From the time I was 4, I worked in the cotton fields,” she remembers. Here, in the fertile lowlands of the Missouri Boot heel, schools opened in July and closed for a “cotton-picking vacation” in October, so that the children…
My Vocation Story – Sister Marie Montgomery
Sister Marie went to heaven on Aug. 18, 2023. Two of Ursuline Sister Marie Montgomery’s paternal aunts were the 13th and 16th members of the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph, Sister Mary Bernard Montgomery (who entered in 1901) and Sister Mary Columba Montgomery (who entered in 1902). Her second cousin, Sister Mary Paul Montgomery,…
My Vocation Story – Sister Joyce Marie Cecil
For Sister Joyce Marie Cecil, “Little House on the Prairie” is not just her favorite TV series. “I love it so much,” she says, “because it reminds me so much of my early life on the farm. Working in the soil and watching things grow helped me to become contemplative at a very young age.”…
My Vocation Story – Sister Mary Henning
Sister Mary Henning can’t remember when there wasn’t music in her life. “My dad played guitar by ear,” she recalls, “and every morning, before her daily work, just for a few minutes, Mom would sing and play on her small organ – familiar songs like ‘That Silver Haired Daddy of Mine.’” It’s no surprise that…
My Vocation Story – Sister Kathleen Dueber
Sister Kathleen Dueber had an aunt who was a Dominican Sister, a great aunt who was a Franciscan Sister, and cousins who were Sisters of Charity and of Loretto. It’s fair to say that religious life was on her mind as she grew up. Her aunt who was a Dominican visited often. “I got to…
My Vocation Story – Sister Marie Bosco Wathen
Sister Marie Bosco Wathen had an older sister who was an Ursuline Sister of Mount Saint Joseph, and she had three Ursuline Sisters as teachers in grade school and five more in high school. Her thoughts about religious life, however, didn’t begin with wanting to become a sister. “My first vocation was to become a…
My Vocation Story – Sister Clarita Browning
When Jane Frances Browning was a senior at Mount Saint Joseph Academy, Ursuline Sister Mary Constance Vize came home to Maple Mount due to health problems. Sister Mary Constance knew Jane from her days of teaching in Calvary, Ky. “Every Sunday, she would ask if she could visit with me,” said the former Jane Frances,…
My Vocation Story – Sister Mimi Ballard
“Since I was a little kid I always wanted to be a sister,” Sister Mimi Ballard said, remembering her happy elementary school years at St. Michael School in Fairfield, Ky. “Sister Mary Edgar Warren was my teacher for five of my eight years there. She was so wonderful that I wanted to be an Ursuline…