Mary Martha, born October 15, 1918, on a farm near Beech Fork River in Nelson County, Ky., was the oldest child of Archibald Aloysius and Mary Edna Bowling Spalding. Mary Martha had six siblings — two brothers, Charles Sylvester and Joseph Leo; and four sisters, Emily Rose, Lucy Regina, Elizabeth Ann and Margaret LaVerne.
Because her home was a great distance from the nearest school, when Mary Martha became school age she was sent to live with the maternal grandparents, Sylvester and Elizabeth Howard Bowling, so she could attend Boones Mill Elementary School. Her only playmate was her grandparent’s dog, Rover, until she returned to her own home on the farm the months that school was not in session. She completed eighth grade there and attended secondary school for two years at Howardstown Public High School and the junior and senior years at St. Catherine Catholic High School in New Haven.
Following her entrance into the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph in 1935 and receiving the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mary Cordelia in 1936, she attended Mount Saint Joseph Junior College. During the years following vows in 1938, she continued her education at Nazareth College in Louisville and Fontbonne College in St. Louis completing an AB degree; earned a MA degree at Spalding College in Louisville; and, did postgraduate studies at Creighton University, San Diego University, University of Colorado, St. Mary’s College (Emmitsburg, Md.) and Ball State University.
In 1938, Sister Cordelia began her teaching ministry at St. Columba Elementary School in Louisville. In 1952, she was principal and junior high teacher at St. Thomas More in Paducah, Ky. She was served at the Motherhouse as director of Novices 1957-1960. The following years of teaching were spent in science/math departments of Kentucky high schools: St. Francis High School (Loretto), St. Charles High School (Lebanon), and Marion County High School.
After 50 years in the classroom, she retired from teaching in 1988 and came to the Motherhouse. Until January 2003, she was actively involved in quilting, an art she executed with a most unusual talent. She developed and managed the Quilt of the Month Club as a great source of revenue for building up the community’s Retirement Fund. Only with the onset of impaired sight and severe Parkinson’s did she discontinue this delicate work of art. Sister’s few remaining years were lived in Saint Joseph Villa under the care of the dedicated nursing staff.
Sister Cordelia died at the age of 90 on April 4, 2009, having been an Ursuline for 74 years. The funeral Mass was celebrated at 10:30 a.m. Wednesday, April 8, 2009, in the Motherhouse Chapel. Sister’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.