Carlene Agatha was born March 17, 1892, the oldest of nine children of Elias and Mary Helen Cosby Barrow of Morganfield, Ky. Later the family moved to St. Joseph and within several more years, they moved to a farm three miles from Owensboro. Carlene received most of her elementary education at the public school on Ford Avenue. During her sophomore year she attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy. After graduation, she entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. On August 30, 1910, Carlene received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Margaret Mary.
In 1911, Sister Margaret Mary was assigned to St. Elizabeth School in Curdsville, Ky., for two years, and to St. Peter School in Waverly, Ky., for six years. For the next 46 years she was missioned to New Mexico as superior and teacher, first at Sacred Heart School in Farmington for 22 years, followed by three years at Sacred Heart Academy in Waterflow, another six years at Farmington and four more years at Waterflow. In 1964, Sister Margaret Mary came back to Kentucky and taught mathematics and Latin at Mount Saint Joseph Academy.
Due to a serious heart condition, Sister Margaret Mary retired from her teaching in 1968 and spent the remainder of her years in the infirmary. She became quite ill in early November 1972 and on November 29, suffered a fatal a heart attack. On December 1, 1972, Msgr. Bernard Powers offered the funeral Mass. Sister Margaret Mary’s remains rest in the convent cemetery. Her Ursuline sister, Sister Edwina Barrow, preceded her in death.
NOTE: For the first time, the community recited The Office of the Dead from Prayer for Christians, a newly revised breviary.