The daughter of George and Alberta Abell Birkhead, Ernestine was born Jan. 12, 1896, in Ensor, Ky. At age 18, Ernestine entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph on Sept. 8, 1914. She received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Alberta on Dec. 30, 1914.
In 1915, Sister Alberta spent a few months teaching grades seven and eight at St. Romuald School in Hardinsburg, Ky. Her full-time assignments were in the Kentucky schools of St. Peter at Waverly for four years, St. Catherine in New Haven for one year and St. Charles in Lebanon for one year. In 1921, she began teaching high school: two years at St. Bernard Academy in Nebraska City, Neb., one year at St. Francis (Ky.) High School and 11 years at. St Joseph High School in Owensboro, Ky. In 1935, Sister Alberta began two years of full-time study at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln. She returned to Kentucky in 1937 to teach business at Mount Saint Joseph Junior College until 1950 when the Junior College relocated to Owensboro and became Brescia College. Sister Alberta continued teaching in business at Brescia until 1968. She is remembered as one of the pioneer Ursuline Sisters of Brescia College, a masterful teacher, whose influence reaches deep into the life of alumni of Brescia’s business department, men and women who contribute significantly to building a just, compassionate society in Owensboro and across the nation.
Death came to Sister Alberta on November 13, 1969, her 19th year of teaching at Brescia College. On November 14, Brescia’s chaplain, Father Charles Saffer, offered a Mass in the Brescia Chapel. Father Bernard Powers, Mount Saint Joseph chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass at Mount Saint Joseph Chapel on November 15, 1969. Sister Alberta’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.
Following her death, family, alumni, and friends established in her memory the Sister Alberta Birkhead Memorial Scholarship Fund at Bresci896