Born on July 6, 1907, in Waverly, Ky., Catherine was the daughter of James and Anabel Roberts Speaks. She was the only girl of four children. Her first schooling was received in a nearby one-room school. She completed elementary and high school at St. Peter School in Waverly. Following graduation from a business college, she worked in the registrar’s office at Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond. At age 22, Catherine entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. On August 15, 1930, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mary Boniface.
Sister Mary Boniface received her first teaching assignment in 1932, spending part of the school year at St. Charles School, Lebanon, Ky., and part at St. Bernard School at Clementsville, Ky. She was assigned to Mount Saint Joseph Academy in 1933 for one year. Beginning in 1934, she taught grade five at St. Columba in Louisville for 11 years. She left Louisville and taught at St. Catherine High School in New Haven, Ky., for a year. The remainder of her teaching days were spent at Mount Saint Joseph — in the Junior College 1947 to 1951 and in the Academy from 1951 to 1973. She retired from teaching and became the director of the Academy Student Shop in 1973. She held this position for 15 years.
Sister Mary Boniface retired in 1988. Sister’s physical health gradually deteriorated. She died in Mount Saint Joseph Infirmary on October 15, 1992, of renal failure. A nephew, Father John Speaks (main celebrant), Father Alan McIntosh, Msgr. Bernard Powers and Father Pike Powell celebrated the funeral Mass, October 18, 1992. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors was an Ursuline niece, Sister Mary Lois Speaks.