Born November 7, 1891 at Uniontown, Kentucky, Ida Laura was the daughter of Henry and Mary (Gough) Gough. Following her elementary education, she attended Mount Saint Joseph Academy during the years 1907‑1910. That same summer, Ida Laura entered the novitiate and after a six‑week postulancy, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mary Charles on August 30, 1910.
Sister Mary Charles was prepared for the teaching apostolate which took her to schools in Kentucky, New Mexico, Nebraska, and Missouri. She began teaching in Kentucky in 1909 at Mount Saint Joseph Academy. In 1912, she was sent to St. Charles, Lebanon. She then went to Browns Valley, Cursdville, Knottsville, and Louisville (St. Paul). She opened the school at Sacred Heart in Wilhelmina, Missouri, in 1922. and taught there seven years. In 1928, she opened the school at Seven Holy Founders in Affton, Missouri, and taught there eight years. She spent one year at Bow Valley, Nebraska, returned to Kentucky in 1937 and taught at Shively. She was assigned to New Mexico high schools at Waterflow and at Blanco from 1938 to 1942. She returned to Nebraska and taught at St. Bernard Academy for one year. In 1943, Sister went to Glennonville, Missouri for five years. Her last three assignments were in Kentucky: Raywick (St Joseph, 1948-1954), St James, Louisville in 1955, and in 1956, back to St. Paul, Louisville for her final assignment.
When the 1958 academic year ended at St. Paul School, Sister Mary Charles returned to Mount Saint Joseph to make her annual retreat. During this time she was taken to Mercy Hospital in Owensboro for treatment of a blood clot in her leg. The efforts of the physician were fruitless and after 20 days of injections and surgeries, Sister Mary Charles died on June 28, 1958. The funeral Mass was celebrated on June 30. Sister Mary Charles’ remains are buried in the convent cemetery.