Francis Marie Vowels was born on April 24, 1926, in Louisville, Ky., to Maud Elizabeth Byerly
Vowels and Stephen Vowels. She was the second child of 14. Her siblings were: Ruby, Joseph, Helen, Virginia, William, Leo, Jane, David, Barbara, Judith, Dale and twins, Stephen and Sylvester who were still born.
Francis Marie was baptized on May 9, 1926, and was confirmed when she was 10 years old. Sister Jamesina Spain prepared her for the Sacrament of Confirmation.
When Francis Marie was four years old during the Great Depression, her father lost his job and the family moved to Meade County, Ky.
She went to live with her grandmother Byerly in Vine Grove, Ky., because it was too far for her to walk to the neighborhood school. When she was ready for second grade, she moved back with her family and attended Hynes School in Meade County. She attended Vine Grove High School until the school burned. She then completed her senior year at St. Martin’s School in Flaherty, Ky. It was there that she met the Ursuline Sisters, Sisters Agnita and Ruth Agnes. When she graduated from St. Martin’s, she was given a scholarship to attend Mount Saint Joseph Junior College at Maple Mount.
Francis Marie had never given much thought to becoming a sister until the influence of Sisters
Agnita and Ruth Agnes. On September 8, 1944, she entered the Mount Saint Joseph Ursuline
Community as a postulant. On August 14, 1945, she was invested and received the name Sister Marie Brenda. She made her Temporary Profession on August 15, 1947, and her Perpetual Profession on August 15, 1950.
In 1947, Sister Marie Brenda began her teaching career that would last for 31 years, taking her back and forth between Kentucky and New Mexico. Her first mission was at St. Romuald in Hardinsburg, Ky.. From there she went to Kentucky schools in Knottsville, St. Charles, Axtel, Harrodsburg, Paducah, New Haven, Precious Blood in Owensboro, and Flaherty. In New Mexico she served in Farmington, St. Joseph, San Fidel, and Grants.
She was both teacher and student. She attended Brescia College for 13 summers. She received her AB from Brescia and studied for her master’s at St. Louis University in St. Louis. She graduated in 1972.
In 1978 she changed her ministry. She went from classroom teacher to director of religious education. For 15 years she worked in religious education and for 10 of those years she worked at Acoma Pueblo. She worked three years at San Juan Pueblo in the Diocese of Santa Fe and two with the Navajos in Houck, Arizona.
In 1998, Sister Marie Brenda decided it was time to come home to the Mount for good. She needed surgery and wanted to recuperate at the Motherhouse. When she recovered from surgery, she shared our charism of hospitality by working at the switchboard. She did this for 11 years until she retired in 2009. After retiring, she became a member of the Powerhouse of Prayer.
Sister Marie Brenda Vowels, 92, died Friday, July 27, 2018, at Mount St. Joseph, in her 73rd year of religious life. The funeral Mass was on Tuesday, July 31, 2018, at 10:30 a.m. in the Motherhouse chapel. Burial was in the convent cemetery.