Born Oct. 10, 1887, in St. Lawrence, Ky., Mary Grace was the daughter of Francis and Elizabeth Payne Coomes who belonged to the pioneer Coomes and Payne families of early Kentucky. She attended St. Lawrence School, which was taught by the Mount Olivet Franciscans. When the Franciscan Sisters left, she attended public school. Mary Grace was drawn to the religious life from her earliest years. She entered the Mount Saint Joseph novitiate on March 19, 1906. On June 3, she received the Ursuline habit and was given the name Sister Mary Edmund.
Sister Edmund’s first assignments as housekeeper were in Kentucky at St. Romuald in Hardinsburg, St. Bernard in Clementsville, and St. Elizabeth in Curdsville. She went with the group of Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines who opened the school at Holy Cross, Ky., in 1914. She then went to Clementsville, Knottsville and Fairfield, Ky. In 1921, she was sent to Wilhelmina, Mo. She went to Farmington, N.M., in 1922, and to Snyder, Neb., in 1924. She then spent two years at Calvary, Ky., and returned to the Motherhouse in 1927. She went back to Wilhelmina for one year and retired to the Motherhouse in 1929. Until her last illness in 1964, Sister Edmund used her many talents to serve as general assistant in many of the departments on campus. Sister Edmund had unusual devotion to the Blessed Mother. The rosary was her constant companion.
Sister was hospitalized at Mercy Hospital in Owensboro on April 17, 1964, suffering from uremic poisoning. She became comatose and died on April 24. Her remains were brought to the Motherhouse for the wake service and vigil. Msgr. Albert Thompson, chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass on April 27. Sister Edmund’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.