Born on Dec. 19, 1897, in Chicago, Ky., Mary Lillian was the oldest of the family of four girls born to Ferdinand and Nannie Blair Smith. During childhood she learned to love and practice her Catholic faith from her pious parents. Lillian attended the public school at Chicago until she was in the sixth grade, ready to make First Communion. She and her sister, Cecilia, traveled by train to New Hope to attend St. Vincent de Paul School. After spending the week in New Hope, they returned to Chicago on Fridays to spend the weekend with their family. This routine continued until the Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph opened St. Francis of Assisi School in 1912. Lillian enrolled in the upper grades and the music class. After graduating from St. Francis High School, Lillian entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. She received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Ferdinand on October 24, 1916.
Sister Ferdinand began her teaching apostolate at St. Anthony School in Jeffersonville, Ind., as the music teacher and choir director. She was missioned as music teacher to several schools in Kentucky: New Haven, Chicago (St. Francis), Cloverport, Fredericktown, Fairfield, Holy Cross, Louisville (St. Paul), and Paducah (Rosary Chapel). She also taught music at St. Bernard Academy in Nebraska City, Neb., and in Jeffersonville, Ind. During the last several years of her mission life, she taught primary grades in the following Kentucky schools: St. Raphael, Earlington, Vine Grove, Louisville (Mother of Good Counsel, St. Ignatius), and Buechel (St. Bartholomew).
Sister Ferdinand’s years of teaching were often interrupted by periods of hospitalization from surgeries caused by sciatic nerve and spinal disorder. It was in her last assignment at St. Bartholomew, however, that cancer ended her teaching activities. She returned to the Motherhouse in 1967. She died at Mercy Hospital in Owensboro, March 20, 1968. The wake service was held at Mount Saint Joseph later that same day. Msgr. Albert Thompson, former chaplain and Msgr. Bernard Powers, chaplain, concelebrated the funeral Mass on March 22. Because of a severe snowstorm, very few Sisters, family and friends were able to attend the burial ceremony in the convent cemetery. Sister Ferdinand was preceded in death by her Ursuline sister, Sister Nympha.