Jessie Martine, sixth of eight children of William Asa and Catherine Stengell Williams, was born on June 7, 1902 in Owensboro, Kentucky. Her faith journey began with baptism by Father Edward S. Fitzgerald at St. Paul Church on June 29, 1902.
Her formal education began in 1909 at St. Frances Academy, Owensboro. After one semester of high school at Frances, she transferred to the Mount Saint Joseph Academy. On July 16, 1920, Jessie, along with 12 other young women, entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph to begin preparation for the life of an Ursuline. On March 19, 1921, she received the Ursuline habit and received the name Sister Charles Asa.
Her first assignment was St. Francis of Assisi School, Chicago, Kentucky, for the 1921-1922 school term. For the next 55 years, Sister Charles Asa was involved in education in Kentucky, Nebraska and Missouri, generally in high school either as teacher, or principal, or superior — sometimes all three. From that first assignment at St. Francis, Sister was assigned to the elementary schools St. Columba and St. James in Louisville. She then taught high school at Waverly, Kentucky, and returned to elementary schools in Wynot and Nebraska City, Nebraska. She was reassigned to teach high schools in Glennonville, Missouri; and New Haven, St. Francis, Fredericktown, Mount Saint Joseph Academy, St. Charles, and Marion County High School in Kentucky.
In 1978, she retired from active teaching, and lived at St. Pius X Convent, Owensboro to care for an ill brother and to visit the elderly, sick and shut-ins of the parish. In 1985, she came to the Motherhouse to assist in health care, especially the care of her older sister, Sister Joseph Marie. When Sister Charles Asa retired from health care, she kept herself active using her culinary skills preparing crepes, casseroles, soups, breads, desserts and other delicacies for her companions in Paul Volk Hall. After a series of strokes in 2000, Sister Charles Asa became a patient in the infirmary. For the last several months of her life, she suffered total loss of hearing and eyesight. Sr. Agnes Catherine, her baby sister, helped with her daily care. Sister Charles Asa was among the first group who moved into the newly constructed Saint Joseph Villa. On June 5, 2005, just two days short of her 103rd birthday, God called her home.
The wake service was held June 7, 2005 (her birthday), followed by the funeral Mass celebrated on June 8 by Msgr. Bernard Powers, Father Joseph Mills, chaplain, and Father Mark Spalding. Sister Charles Asa’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors was her Ursuline sister, Sister Agnes Catherine. Sister Joseph Marie, her Ursuline sister, preceded her in death in 1989.