Dorothy Cecilia, one of nine children, was born to Nicholas Leake and Addie Boone Whelan at Howardstown, Kentucky on April 14, 1912. In August 1918, Dorothy began her formal education at St. Ann School, Howardstown, staffed by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. She studied there through grade school and high school.
On September 8, 1930, Dorothy entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. She received the Ursuline habit on March 19, 1931, and the name Sister Dorothy Ann.
In the fall of 1933, Sister began her mission assignment at “Little St. Joseph,” a public school near Raywick, teaching 65 students in grades one through four. Assignments to other Kentucky schools were: Peonia, St. Francis, Clementsville, Mayfield, Louisville, Owensboro, St. Charles, Raywick and Loretto. Sister also taught in Plattsmouth and Nebraska City, Nebraska. In many of her assignments, Sister Dorothy Ann was teacher/principal/superior as well as church organist and choir director.
In l982, she was assigned as librarian to St. Francis School, gave music lessons, and served as organist for the parish choir. When the convent at St. Francis closed in 1988, she accepted the position as pastoral minister at St. Joseph Church in Leitchfield. In 1993, Sister retired to the Motherhouse to serve as librarian at Mount Saint Joseph Conference and Retreat Center. She occasionally played the organ for services in the Motherhouse Chapel. Sister retired from these activities in 1996.
Sister Dorothy Ann was in the original group of Sisters who moved into Saint Joseph Villa, the new health care facility that opened in June 2002. From complications following a severe stroke, Sister died Tuesday, February 25, 2003. Father Joseph Mills and Father Greg Trawick concelebrated the funeral Mass, Friday morning, February 28. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors was her Ursuline sister, Sister Mary Emily.