Myrtle was born March 29, 1903, the first child of Walter and Emma Aull Coomes of Knottsville, Ky. Her grade school education began at Pleasant Valley School in 1910. Later, she was enrolled at St. William School where the Ursuline Sisters were her teachers. After completing her first year of high school at St. William, Myrtle entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph on July 13, 1919. She received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Agnese on March 19, 1920.
Sister Agnese prepared for the teaching apostolate. During her 52 years of teaching, she was assigned to 32 missions. Her first assignment was Waverly, Ky., in 1920 teaching grades six through eight. She later taught these same grades in other Kentucky schools: Raywick, Lebanon (St. Charles, on four separate occasions), Stanley, Louisville (St. Columba), Owensboro (St. Joseph), Clementsville, Fredericktown, Holy Cross, New Haven, Boones Mill and Paducah (St. Thomas More). In 1946, she began teaching high school at Flaherty, Lebanon (St. Charles), Fredericktown, Mayfield, Knottsville, Loretto (St. Francis), Leitchfield (St. Paul), Hardinsburg, and Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Sister Agnese’s only out-of-state assignment was to St. Teresa High School in Glennonville, Mo., 1947-1949.
Sister Agnese retired from teaching in 1973, and returned to Mount Saint Joseph. On June 2, 1990, she fell and never recovered from complications suffered from a broken hip. On July 6, Sister died. The funeral Mass was celebrated on July 8, 1990, by Father Anthony Shonis, chaplain. Sister Agnese’s remains are in the convent cemetery.