Born August 16, 1875, to Martin and Susie Barker Hite of Uniontown, Ky., Mary Ada brought much joy to the family. She was fond of books and music as a child, and that fondness increased as years went by. Mary Ada came to Mount Saint Joseph Academy in 1890. She was an active participant of all the scholastic and cultural offerings. In 1894, having not gone home for Christmas vacation, she wrote a lengthy description of Christmas at the Mount. She entered the novitiate at Mount Saint Joseph. On March 13, 1897, Mary Ada received the Ursuline habit and the name Sister Mary William.
Sister Mary William remained at Mount Saint Joseph Academy assisting Sister Angela Kohl in the music department. She also helped Sister Mercedes Wathen at St. Alphonsus School across the road from the Academy. She helped Sister Ursula Jenkins at St. Raphael School in West Louisville. Sister Mary William was missioned in 1905 to St. Romuald School in Hardinsburg, Ky., where she was in charge of music. Her next assignment was St. James School in Louisville — the first mission school taught by the Ursulines of Mount Saint Joseph. She gave music lessons and took care of music in the parish. In 1921, when the Mount Saint Joseph Ursulines opened schools in western Nebraska, Sister Mary William went to Bow Valley for a year. She returned to Kentucky and taught at various mission schools, Owensboro (St. Joseph), St. Charles, Raywick (St. Joseph), Cloverport, and then Jeffersonville, Ind. She was again assigned to Nebraska, St. John in Plattsmouth. In 1937, she came back to teach music in the Academy for a short time.
Sister William retired from active duty in 1943. Death came to her May 5, 1954. Msgr. Gilbert Henninger, chaplain, celebrated the funeral Mass, May 7, 1954. Sister Mary Williams’s remains are laid to rest in the convent cemetery.