Kathleen Sharon Condry was born on August 14, 1950, to James Thomas and Mary Josephine Seyler Condry in Ottawa, Kan. She was the third child and first girl in the family. Her two older brothers were Patrick and Michael and her two younger sisters were Ellen and Patricia.
Kathleen was born in Kansas, but mostly by happenstance. She said, “My father traveled. When my mother got close to having me, she came to my grandparents’ home in Wellsville.” Her place of birth is officially Ottawa, Kan., but that was the location of the nearest hospital. She said they never lived there although she was baptized in Sacred Heart Church in Ottawa on August 28, 1950. She was named as Ottawa’s “Baby of the Year.”
By the time she was 4 the family was living in a suburb of New Orleans. Ten years later the family moved back to Kansas and settled in Overland Park, a suburb of Kansas City. Kathleen enrolled at Bishop Miege High School for her sophomore year.
Following high school, Kathleen attended Kansas State College in Pittsburg, Kan. She became very involved in the Newman Center there and it was the chaplain there who told her she might have a religious vocation. She decided that was what she wanted to be and entered the Ursuline Sisters of Paola in 1969.
After Kathleen entered the community, she continued her education at Avila College where she received a bachelor’s degree in French with minors in philosophy and psychology. She graduated from Avila College in 1972 and was assigned to teach fifth and sixth grade for a year at Holy Name School in Kansas City, Kan. Sister Kathleen said, “I was trained to be a high school French teacher; I had no preparation to teach elementary school. I hadn’t even been in one since I was in grade school. I was so young I didn’t know what I didn’t know. It’s what Ursulines do, whatever needs to get done.”
Sister Kathleen received a master’s degree in administration from the University of Kansas but also attended classes in Quebec, and Avignon, France. During the following years, she ministered in many schools in the Kansas City area. Those included Lakemary Center, Ursuline Academy in Paola, Bishop Miege High School in Roeland Park, and St. Agnes School in Fairway. She served as principal of Queen of the Holy Rosary School, Holy Spirit School and Holy Cross School, all in Overland Park. Sister also held administrative roles at St. Thomas Aquinas High School and Church of the Ascension School in Overland Park. Often Sister had two or three of these positions at the same time. Sister also became the assistant superintendent for leadership and mission for the Archdiocesan Education Office, Kansas City, Kan.
Sister Kathleen was elected superior in Paola in 2002 and remained superior until the merger with the Mount Saint Joseph Community in 2008.
From 2009 to 2016, Sister Kathleen took on a new challenge serving in pastoral ministry for the Church of the Nativity in Leawood, Kan. In December 2015, Sister Kathleen was elected as assistant congregational leader for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph and was installed in the office July 17, 2016. During the week before the installation, Sister Kathleen went to the Ursuline Convocation in Louisville and while there fell and suffered injury to her nose and face. She did not feel well but wanted to attend the installation. Sometime after the installation, Sister Kathleen went to the hospital for tests. Sister Amelia Stenger said, “We did not realize that when she went to the hospital for tests, we would not be meeting with her again.”
Sister Kathleen died on Sept. 5, 2016. The funeral Mass was at 10:30 a.m. on Sept. 8. Her remains are buried in the convent cemetery.