On a late summer Friday, September 8, 1922, in rural Sunfish, Ky., Mary Evelyn was born to James Tilford (T.J.) and Mary Bennie Duvall, their third daughter and fourth child. She was baptized on Sunday, October 29 at St. John the Evangelist Church in Sunfish. Over the next decade the Duvall family would grow to include 14 children and an orphan girl who was fully included in the family. These five brothers and nine sisters with her parents planted the seeds of love and faith for Mary Evelyn. She made her first communion Sunday, June 8, 1930.
During the Great Depression her father had to leave the farm. The family moved to Huff, Ky., in Edmonson County, where her father owned a country store and ran the Post Office. Later he became a very successful Buick dealer in Leitchfield.
Even though Evelyn attended public schools, (Sunfish, Little Mountain, Cub Creek, Huff and Lebanon Junction) she encountered the Ursuline Sisters at Vacation Bible School and at the age of 7 she began to feel the desire to be a Sister. During her early teenage years she forgot about that idea. In her late teens, it returned strong and hard and she announced that she was entering the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph on September 7, 1940, one day shy of her 18th birthday. On August 14, 1941, she received the Ursuline habit, two years later made first vows August 15, 1943, final vows three years later.
In her interview with the Mother Superior before entering, she made it known that she did not want to teach. As a result, from 1943 to 1949 she served as housekeeper in four missions: St. Charles, Bardwell, Ky.; at the Motherhouse; St. Columba, Louisville; St Teresa, Glennonville, Mo. During that time she also had the experience of substituting in second grade for 12 weeks and was quite surprised that she found it most rewarding.
In 1949 she began her teaching career, serving the next 24 years in Kentucky and Missouri: St. Lawrence, Browns Valley, Earlington, Knottsville, Cloverport, Hodgenville, and Hardinsburg in Kentucky, and Affton Mo. In 1973, she was sent to New Mexico where she would minister for 34 years. teaching at Sacred Heart in Farmington and St. Joseph in San Fidel until 1992. After she stopped teaching, she served as registrar at Catholic Academy in Farmington until it closed. She then worked with the elderly in Sacred Heart Parish. Her last 10 years in New Mexico, she served as librarian at St. Francis School in Gallup.
Sister Mary Evelyn was very talented in many areas: a gifted seamstress, including vestments, altar cloths and liturgical banners; she did award-winning needlework; was an exceptional cook and frequent ribbon winner at craft shows. She enjoyed traveling throughout the United States, especially in the West. She was fortunate to share three extended trips to Europe with family, friends and Ursuline pilgrims.
Sister Mary Evelyn retired to the Motherhouse in 2007. Around 4:20 in the afternoon on Tuesday, April 26, 2011, in the pause between towering thunderstorms, Sister Mary Evelyn died, secure in the assurance of Saint Angela Merici that “the Lover of us all will grant us a special grace at the hour of death.” Following the Mass of Resurrection in the Motherhouse chapel, Sister Mary Evelyn’s remains were carried in solemn procession to Mount Saint Joseph Cemetery for burial.