The daughter of Julian and Elizabeth Mattingly Brown, Josephine was born March 22, 1911, in Cloverport, Ky. Her formal education began at St. Rose School in Cloverport, taught by the Ursuline Sisters. Josephine attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy for high school. On September 8, 1930, she entered the novitiate. Following a six-month postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit on March 19, 1931, and the name Sister Isadore.
Sister Isadore began mission life in 1933 as a teacher of music at St. Leo School in Snyder, Neb., for one year. She was then missioned to Sacred Heart Academy in Waterflow, N.M.. for two years. The 1936-1937 school year was spent at St. Columba, Louisville, and St. Charles High School, Lebanon, Ky. Following assignments included St. Peter High School, Waverly, Ky., and St. Joseph High School, Owensboro. She spent 1940 to 1942 studying at Creighton University, Omaha, Neb., and returned to St. Charles High School for six years. In 1948, she was assigned to St. Bernard Academy, Nebraska City, Neb., for four years. In 1955, after three years of full-time study, she received a doctoral degree in business from The Catholic University of America, Washington, D.C. She returned to Kentucky to serve as treasurer and full-time teacher in the business department at Brescia College. Sister Isadore had sensed a physical weakness when working on her doctoral degree but was able to perform her duties at Brescia College for 15 years. In 1970, she was experiencing advanced symptoms of Parkinson’s disease. She went off duty and lived at the convent of St. Denis Convent in Shively, Ky. Sister Mary Mercedes Knott was Sister’s principal caregiver during that time.
By 1975, Sister needed skilled nursing care and became a patient in the Motherhouse infirmary. After 12 years of progressive pain and helplessness, Sister Isadore died peacefully on October 2, 1987. Father Anthony Shonis, chaplain, Msgr. Bernard Powers and Father Robert Drury celebrated the funeral Mass on October 5. Sister Isadore’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors were her Ursuline sister, Sister Joan Brown, and an Ursuline niece, Sister Joan of Arc Walz.