Born in Louisville, Ky., on Nov. 28, 1903, Esther was the only child of Charles and Melanie Oberle Brill. Following her education, she was employed in an office in Louisville. Esther entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph when she was 21 years old. After a postulancy of six months, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Karl Melanie on March 19, 1926.
Sister Karl Melanie was first assigned to St. Raphael School in West Louisville, Ky. She continued teaching middle and upper grades at Raywick (St. Francis), Lebanon (St. Charles), and New Haven (Boone’s Mill) in Kentucky. She spent 1935-1937 at Chiropractic College in Anton, Mo. She returned to Kentucky and taught grades seven and eight at Flaherty and Lebanon (St. Charles) before beginning high school teaching in 1940 at Mount Saint Joseph Academy and at the St. Alphonsus campus where the high school boys attended class. In 1954, she was missioned to New Haven (St. Catherine High School), and in 1955, to Leitchfield (St. Paul High School) where she was diagnosed with cancer.
She returned to the Mount in 1957 and until mid-November, once again taught the high school boys at St. Alphonsus while remaining under the close supervision of her doctor in Owensboro. Death came to Sister Karl Melanie on December 5, 1957. Msgr. Gilbert Henninger celebrated the funeral Mass. Sister’s students from St. Alphonsus were pallbearers carrying her remains to the convent cemetery for burial.
Note: There are several marble benches on the front campus honoring Sister Karl Melanie. In testimony of their love for an inspiring teacher and faithful friend, the memorials bear the names of the young men from St. Alphonsus who graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy.