The daughter of Francis and Bridget (Thompson) Thompson, Estelle was born Aug. 22, 1903, in Loretto, Ky. On the day after her birth, she was baptized in the Church of Seven Dolors at the Motherhouse of the Sisters of Loretto. Her formal education began in a public school in Loretto. In 1912, when the Ursuline Sisters opened St. Francis of Assisi School in Loretto, Estelle attended school there. Her high school years were spent at St. Francis of Assisi School where she was a student of music and art. When 19 years old, Estelle entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. After a postulancy of nine months, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Louis Bertrand on March 19, 1923.
Before making her first vows, Sister Louis Bertrand was sent to teach music at Browns Valley, Ky., her first assignment. Other short assignments as music teacher were to St. Columba School in Louisville, St. Peter School in Waverly, St. Charles School in Lebanon, and St. Bernard Academy in Nebraska City, Neb. In 1939, she was assigned to Mount Saint Joseph Academy where she taught music and home economics until she was appointed sacristan in 1948. Sister’s family members were generous donors of adornments for the chapel. Among these donated furnishings were the statue of the Blessed Mother and Saint Joseph, the windows of the Ecce Homo and Sorrowful Mother, and various brass furnishings, i.e. candle sticks, vases, and thurible. Sister Louis Bertrand served as sacristan until her retirement in October 1982.
Sister Louis Bertrand spent the last seven years of her life enjoying the peace and quiet of the Mount, visiting her family, making beautiful needlework, spending time at the piano, reminiscing with novitiate classmates and praying. Her strength gradually failed. She died quietly on October 19, 1989. Msgr. Bernard Powers celebrated the funeral Mass on the feast of Saint Ursula. Sister Louis Bertrand’s remains are laid to rest in the convent cemetery.