The daughter of Raphael and Ella Rowely Thompson, Thelma was born May 15, 1905, in Uniontown, Ky. While still in their early childhood, Thelma and her brother and sister lost their mother in death. Their father placed Thelma with her Uncle Herman and Aunt Lucy Eckmans, then in 1920 she came to Mount Saint Joseph Academy for boarding and schooling. Two years later, Thelma entered the novitiate and on March 19, 1923, she received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mary Herman.
Sister Mary Herman finished her high school education by often attending summer school and taking classes through the school years as she was teaching. She graduated in July 1937. Sister Mary Herman’s first mission was St. Martin School in Rome, Ky., where she taught the middle grades for two years. Other assignments in Kentucky took her to St. Romuald School in Hardinsburg, St. Paul School in Louisville, and St. Catherine School in New Haven. Always an intermediate grades teacher, Sister Mary Herman spent 12 years teaching at St. Columba School in Louisville followed by another year at Hardinsburg. Her only out-of-state mission was Seven Holy Founders School in Affton, Mo., where she spent five years teaching middle graders.
Found to be suffering from Bright’s disease, Sister Mary Herman was admitted to Mercy Hospital in Owensboro during the summer of 1957 and died there on September 11. Her year of suffering had ended. Following her Requiem Mass, Sister Mary Herman’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery.