The daughter of Nicholas and Mary Veronica Bowling Greenwell, Edna was born March 5, 1906, in New Haven, Ky. She was the fifth in a family of two boys and six girls. Edna’s formal education began at St. Catherine School in New Haven with the Sisters of Loretto. She was still in elementary school when the Ursuline Sisters began teaching at St. Catherine’s. Edna spent part of her high school years at Sacred Heart Academy in Louisville, and St. Francis of Assisi High School in Loretto. She graduated from Mount Saint Joseph Academy. Following her graduation, Edna entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph and received the Ursuline habit on March 19, 1925. She was given the name Sister Lucita.
Sister Lucita prepared for the apostolate of teaching. Her first assignment was St. Augustine School in Jeffersonville, Ind., where she taught music and directed the children’s choir. Her many years of teaching took her to parochial and public schools in Kentucky: Hardinsburg, Shively, Leitchfield, and Owensboro (St. Joseph). She was also assigned to St. Bernard Academy in Nebraska City, Neb. She taught either upper grades in elementary school or in high school as the need arose.
Sister spent several academic years in advanced studies. She served 10 years as principal of Mount Saint Joseph Academy, six years as mistress of novices, and 10 years as director of education for the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. Beginning in the mid‑1970s, she retired from full-time classroom/administrative works to serve as librarian for several elementary schools in Kentucky: New Haven (St. Catherine), Louisville (St. Margaret Mary and Mother of Good Counsel), and Jeffersontown (St. Edward), her last assignment.
Retiring from schoolwork in 1986, Sister Lucita returned to Mount Saint Joseph and worked part time in the archives. As her health declined, she lived in the infirmary. She enjoyed a life of prayer and participated in various activities offered to the retired and infirm Sisters. She died in the early evening of March 11, 1994. Father Robert Ray, homilist, Msgr. Bernard Powers, and Father William Hartlege concelebrated the funeral Mass. Along with family members, many of her former novices returned to Mount Saint Joseph to be present for the Mass and participate in the burial service in the convent cemetery.