Born at New Hope, Kentucky, on January 18, 1899, Mary Olivia was one of the 10 children of Thomas and Susan Hicks Smith. Her early education was obtained at St. Charles School in Lebanon. Entering the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph, Mary Olivia served her three‑month postulancy then received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Agnes Marie on October 24, 1916.
Prepared for the teaching apostolate, Sister Agnes Marie’s first mission was St. Columba School in Louisville where she taught four years. Later assignments took her to the Ursuline schools in Nebraska, and to other schools in Kentucky. Through her years of teaching Sister Agnes Marie taught the upper grades and the high school and college levels. For 16 years she was the English instructor at Brescia College in Owensboro, then she taught English at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Sister Agnes Marie served as librarian for the Academy in 1969 and kept that position for five years after she retired from teaching.
Sister Agnes Marie spent her retirement years at Mount Saint Joseph in prayer, reading, and listening to music. She suffered from an ever‑increasing loss of hearing. In later years she suffered from cancer and in August 1980, she had an eight‑day stay at Mercy Hospital in Owensboro then returned to the infirmary at Mount Saint Joseph. On August 29, 1980, she breathed her last. Her Funeral Mass was concelebrated by Father Anthony Ziegler, who was also the homilist, and Father Terry Mark of Louisville, her great‑nephew. Sister Agnes Marie was then buried in the convent cemetery.