Sister Susanne Bauer grew up as a tomboy on a Kansas farm, and her mother was afraid her future might not be bright. “My mother had concerns about what would happen to me,” Sister Susanne said. “She thought the sisters could do anything,” so her parents enrolled her in Ursuline Academy, the high school run…

Sister Michele Morek was raised by her mother after her father died during World War II. They were living in Florida, where a doctor threatened to remove Michele’s tonsils. “Or,” he said, “you can move to a dry climate.” So when Sister Michele was 3 years old, they moved to New Mexico, because her mother…

Sister Elaine Burke was attending public high school in a Louisville, Ky., suburb at age 16 and considering joining the Ursuline Sisters of Louisville, who had taught her in elementary school. Her parents thought otherwise. “My mom suggested I check out the Mount before deciding,” Sister Elaine said. Her mother’s sisters were Ursulines of Mount…

Ursuline Sister Mary Ellen Backes overcame the tragic death of her parents at a young age and learned a lesson about kindness that has lasted a lifetime. Jeanne Ellen Backes (pronounced “Bock-us”) was born in Minot, N.D., “where the sky and the earth touch. It’s beautiful,” she said.  She has an older brother, Norman, a…

As a child, Sister Julia Head loved to learn and yearned for a larger family of sisters. The Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph offered her both. Sister Julia grew up on a farm in the Stanley-Newman-Birk City area of western Daviess County, Ky., not too far from Maple Mount. Her father, Bernard, was a…

If the distillery where she worked hadn’t closed, Ursuline Sister George Mary Hagan may not have heard the Lord calling her to religious life. Sister George Mary was born Frances Lucille Hagan in New Haven, Ky., a small town near Bardstown in a highly Catholic area of central Kentucky. When she joined the Ursulines in…

Ursuline Sister Helena Fischer comes from a family where several members chose religious life. But it was the lessons and inspiration she received from the Ursuline Sisters in her youth that convinced her that religious life was for her. She was born Helen Marie Fischer in the small farming community of Rome, on the outskirts…

Most plans made as a second-grader don’t come true. But Sister Melissa Tipmore decided in the second grade that she would become an Ursuline Sister, and 2022 marks her 58th year in religious life. Sister Melissa grew up in Owensboro, Ky., born Barbara Joan Tipmore, the youngest of seven children to J.W. and Georgia Tipmore,…

Smiling comes so naturally to Ursuline Sister Mary Celine Weidenbenner that people often ask her what she’s so happy about. Exuding joy has been a constant part of her life for the 59 years she’s been an Ursuline Sister. She has spent 52 years in ministry as a classroom teacher or principal. Born Theresia Marie…

Ursuline Sister Pat Lynch is at her happiest when she’s listening and talking with someone in need. The welcoming smile that so easily comes to Sister Pat’s face is all the more remarkable considering the number of tragic events that occurred in her childhood. She spent her early years in Pennsylvania, but when she was…