Ella joined the family of Lawrence and Emma Luckett Abell on April 3, 1899, at Calvary, Ky., the eighth of nine children. The Abell family, pioneers from Maryland, was active in the history of the Catholic Church in the Rolling Fork territory from the time of its settlement in 1785.
Ella attended Calvary Public School. Upon completion of Normal School in Lebanon, she taught for a year at the public elementary school in Finley, Ky. On July 15, 1917, she entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. Four months later she received the Ursuline habit. Ella was given the name Sister Mary Lawrence.
Sister Mary Lawrence’s first teaching assignment was St. Anthony School in Browns Valley, Ky., in 1918, where she taught for nine years. In all, she served for 47 years as teacher or principal in other schools in Kentucky: St. Lawrence, Shively (St. Denis), Fairfield, Flaherty, Louisville (St. Columba), Vine Grove, Leitchfield (St. Paul), and Owensboro (Blessed Mother and Immaculate). Sister’s out-of-state assignments were at Wynot and Snyder, Neb.
She retired from teaching in 1965. Her pupils and their parents loved and respected her. Many of them kept in touch with her during her 16 years in the infirmary at Mount Saint Joseph suffering the debilitating effects of Parkinson’s disease. During her confinement in the infirmary, she spread devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary and touched the lives of many people by chaining hundreds of rosaries that were given as gifts to missionaries around the world, school children, prisoners and families. She was a faith-filled woman who loved life and showed genuine personal interest in all whom she met, qualities that made her an excellent educator and school administrator.
Sister Mary Lawrence died on January 9, 1981. Among the concelebrants at her funeral Mass was her nephew, Passionist Father Lawrence Browning. Father Anthony Ziegler, former Mount Saint Joseph chaplain, gave the homily. Sister Mary Lawrence’s remains are buried in the convent cemetery. Among her survivors were her two Ursuline sisters, Sister Ann Vincentia and Sister Mary Otho, and two Ursuline nieces, Sister Marie Goretti Browning and Sister Clarita Browning.