Catherine was born on Christmas day 1905, the fourth of seven children born to Julian and Elizabeth Mattingly Brown at Cloverport, Ky. She received her early schooling at the Cloverport Public School, then attended St. Rose School opened by the Ursuline Sisters in 1916. Her high school years were spent at Bethlehem Academy in St. John, Ky., staffed by the Sisters of Loretto. Catherine entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph in September 1925. On March 19, 1926, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Joan.
Sister Joan was an unusually gifted musician, accomplished in piano, organ and voice. In 1917, she began teaching music at St. Columba in Louisville, followed by an assignment to St. Catherine, New Haven, Ky. In 1937, Sister Joan studied music at Webster College in St. Louis for three years. She returned to the Mount and taught in the Academy for 10 years. She then spent one year at St. Charles High School, Lebanon, Ky. In 1952, she was appointed music supervisor of parochial schools taught by the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. In 1970, she taught music at St. Ignatius in Louisville for one year, St. Thomas More in Paducah, Ky., for two years, and St. Margaret Mary in Louisville for two years.
In 1975, Sister Joan retired from full-time ministry and returned to Mount Saint Joseph Academy as part-time teacher in the music department. In 1980, she gave up teaching completely to attend to her younger sister, Sister Isadore, who was in the infirmary suffering from Parkinson’s disease. Sister Isadore died in 1987. Sister Joan was admitted to Mercy Hospital in Owensboro in early December 1991 with pneumonia. On December 15, 1991, she suffered a fatal heart attack.
On December 18, 1991, Father Anthony Shonis, chaplain, and Msgr. Bernard Powers celebrated the funeral Mass at St. Alphonsus Church followed by the burial of her remains in the convent cemetery.
The chapel at Mount Saint Joseph underwent major renovation between August 1991 and July 1992. The funeral Mass for Sisters who died between those dates was held in St Alphonsus Church.