Dorothy was born on March 9, 1917, one of the eight children born to Jasper and Caroline McKay Hundley in Stanley, Ky. Most of her 12 years of education were spent at St. Peter of Alcantara School in Stanley. When she was 21 years old, Dorothy entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. She received the Ursuline habit on August 14, 1939, and was given the name Sister Mary Paula.
Throughout her 41 years of teaching, she was missioned to instruct children in grades one through five, in the various parochial and public schools in Kentucky, New Mexico, and Missouri. The first teaching assignment for Sister Mary Paula was St. Denis School at Fancy Farm, Ky., for two years. She was then assigned to Knottsville, Rome, Cloverport, and Central City, Ky., to Wilhelmina, Mo., and a return to Central City, Fairfield, and Cloverport. She served in New Mexico at Waterflow and San Fidel, then returned to Kentucky at Axtel, Raywick (St. Joseph), Harrodsburg, and Hawesville, before returning to New Mexico at Farmington and San Fidel.
Failing health forced Sister Mary Paula to retire to Mount Saint Joseph in 1982. She had suffered for years with bronchial asthma that became increasingly worse with aging. Death came to her on October 16, 1983, while she was in treatment as a patient at Mercy Hospital in Owensboro. Two days later, Father Bernard Barnes, OSM, chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass. Sister Mary Paula’s remains rest in the convent cemetery.