Anna Ursula Willett was born on October 8, 1921, in Waverly Ky., the fourth child of James Edward and Jane Isabel Perdue Willett. The family grew to eight, including brothers Thomas Edward and Joseph Vernon and sisters Theresa Bernadette, Dorothy Jane, Doris Hiltrude, Mary Kathleen and Rose Marie (Sister Rosita, OSU).
When Anna Ursula was three years old, the family moved to Henderson, Ky. She began school with the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth in Henderson, but later attended Corydon Elementary, Weaverton Junior High, and Corydon Junior High. She came to Mount Saint Joseph Academy for high school, where two older sisters were already enrolled. She loved the “Mount” and decided that this was the place she wanted to spend the rest of her life.
On September 8, 1940, she entered Mount Saint Joseph novitiate; received the habit and the name, Sister Dorothy Marie, on August 8, 1941; made first vows August 14, 1943, and final profession of vows August 15, 1946. Though she got homesick an awful lot, she loved the novitiate where she got to make altar breads, work in the sacristy and help in the priests’ dining room.
She received teacher certification and a degree in education from Brescia College in Owensboro.
Her first mission was St. Paul Elementary, Leitchfield, Ky., teaching grades 4-6. She finally “worked her way down” to the level she really loved the primary grades – especially first and second. At this level, she felt a special privilege of preparing children for the reception of First Holy Communion and the Sacrament of Penance
Subsequent missions included the Kentucky towns of Vine Grove, Buechel, Earlington, Curdsville, St. Raphael, Paducah (St. Thomas More), Owensboro (Blessed Mother, Precious Blood and St. Joseph and Paul), as well as Nebraska City, Neb. Sister Dorothy Marie was highly respected and a much-loved teacher. Father Edward Tuchek of Nebraska City praised all the Ursulines with whom he had worked for 40 years, especially naming Sister Dorothy Marie, saying that “she really made a mark on the lives of many children, their parents, and the teaching staff. She taught the Gospel by living. She is remembered for her strong faith, her piety, her spirit of sacrifice and her sense of humor.”
Sister Dorothy Marie died in Saint Joseph Villa during the early evening of February 4, 2009, finding the peace she had been seeking throughout a long, difficult illness. The Mass of Resurrection was February 7, 2009, at 10:30 a.m., with the Rev. John Vaughan, a former pupil, as celebrant. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.