Born Aug. 14, 1903, in St. Joseph, Ky., Ursula, the daughter of William Ivo and Dora Blandford Thompson, grew up in a loving family. Her early school days were spent at St. Frances Academy in Owensboro. She came to Mount Saint Joseph Academy for high school. In addition to the courses required for graduation, she earned a business certificate.
Ursula entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph on March 20, 1922. She received the Ursuline habit and the name of Sister Mary Vincent.
Sister Mary Vincent’s first assignment was to the parochial school of St. Peter of Alcantara at Stanley, Ky., as teacher of the seventh and eighth grades. Following seven years there, she continued to teach those same grades in both public and parochial schools in these Kentucky towns: Flaherty, Chicago, Louisville (St. Bernard, St. Columba), Shively, Lebanon (St. Charles), Holy Cross, Wax, Howardstown, Owensboro (St. Joseph), Hardinsburg, Cloverport, Axtel, Princeton, and Jeffersontown. She also taught in Nebraska City, Neb. In many of these schools she served as both principal and teacher.
Sister Mary Vincent left full-time classroom teaching in 1971 and taught fourth-grade reading at St. Ignatius School in Louisville. She retired to the Motherhouse infirmary in 1974 receiving frequent treatment for uremia at Mercy Hospital in Owensboro.
Sister Mary Vincent died January 19, 1977. Father Anthony Ziegler, chaplain, concelebrated the funeral Mass with three other priests. Because of the severe cold and deep snow, only a few Sisters could be present for the burial service in the convent cemetery. The others remained in the chapel praying the rosary. Among Sister’s survivors were her three Ursuline sisters, Sisters Theodore, Mary Ivo, and Geraldine.