Pauline was born March 29, 1912, one of nine children born to Hall and Claudia Downs Simpson in Holy Cross, Kentucky. Her siblings were John Adrian, Joseph Hall, Jr. and Susan who preceded her in death, and Martha, Elizabeth, Gladys, Marietta and Garnetta.
Her first four school years were spent at Ballard School in Nelson County, taught by Catherine Cotton. After transferring to Holy Cross School, she was greatly influenced by the Ursulines who were her teachers — Sister Mary Rose Lyvers taught her in the upper grades in elementary school, and Sisters Charles Emaline Clements and Mary Romuald Kennedy in High School.
Together with five young ladies from Holy Cross, Pauline entered the Ursuline Community in September of 1932. She received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Barbara Ann on March 18, 1933.
In 1935, she finished the school year for a teacher at St. Edward School in Jeffersontown. That fall she was missioned to Saint Denis School, Shively. Other teaching assignments took her to: Waverly, Knottsville, Clementsville, Marion County High School (Saint Charles), Saint Joseph (Saint Alphonsus), Grayson County (Saint Paul), Louisville (Mother of Good Counsel), Whitesville (Trinity High), and Marion County Jr. High School. She spent one year at St. Bernard Elementary School in Louisville before retiring from classroom teaching. In 1978, she lived and worked at St. Boniface Retirement Center in Louisville, serving in the Franciscan Soup Kitchen and visiting the sick and elderly.
Sister retired to the Motherhouse in 1981. She suffered a massive stroke on March 29, 1989 that left her unable to communicate verbally, a great suffering for her the last five years of life. However, she continued to communicate clearly with her facial joy and nods of gratitude and resignation. Sister died on July 6, 1994. The wake service was held on July 7, followed by the funeral Mass, celebrated by Father Anthony Shonis, chaplain, on July 8. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. The large number of family, friends and former students who attended funeral services testified to Sister’s life of genuine love and service.