Catherine Crystal Malone was born April 18, 1924, in Raywick, Ky. She was the fourth child born to Alfred Malone and Mary Abigail Benningfield Malone. Her older siblings were Margaret Elma, William Harold, Mary Agnita and her younger siblings were Dorothy Virginia, Anna Geneva, Margaret Aretha, Judith Arlene, Joseph Clennan, Wanda Ruth and John Robert.
Crystal was baptized on May 17, 1924, in St. Joseph Church in Raywick. On May 19, 1936, she was confirmed at St. Joseph Church by the Right Reverend John A. Floersh, Bishop of Louisville.
She attended St. Joseph School for eight years, Her last year was very memorable because she won the Marion County Spelling Bee. Later she spent four happy years at St. Charles High School taught by Ursuline Sisters and graduated in June 1942. Another memorable event at the end of high school was being chosen to receive the Honor Medal. She was offered a scholarship to Mount Saint Joseph Junior College, but instead she decided to attend St. Helena’s Business College in Louisville.
In November of 1942, she started working for the Marion County Board of Education, in Lebanon, Ky. She worked there for seven years. She said that she wanted to stay close to home to help with her younger siblings.
Crystal entered the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph on September 7, 1949.
She was received into the novitiate on August 14, 1950, and took the name of Sister Mary Alfreda after her mom and dad. She made temporary profession on August 15, 1952, and made perpetual profession on August 15, 1955.
Her teaching assignments included St. Bartholomew School in Louisville, Peonia Public School, Clarkson, Ky., St. Thomas More School in Paducah, Ky., and St. Pius X School in Owensboro. She then served as Registrar at Brescia College from 1965 to 1968.
She was secretary to the Leadership Council at Mount Saint Joseph from 1968 to 1976. She then went to St. Charles Borromeo School in Albuquerque, N.M., and ministered as a religious education secretary. She returned to the Mount to assist in health care. She then returned to Brescia College and served as registrar for 12 years. From 1990-2004, Sister Alfreda was administrative assistant to J.C Malone Associates in Louisville. She then ministered to her family and others in the Hodgenville, Ky., area. For the following eight years, she served as an assistant to the archivist at the Motherhouse. She then ministered in the Powerhouse of Prayer.
Sister Alfreda, 96, died on February 13, 2021, in her 71st year of religious life.
The funeral Mass was at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, February 24, 2021, with Father John Vaughan, a former student, as presider and homilist. Burial was in the convent cemetery.