Mary Ellenee Johnson was born December 5, 1940, to the family of Damien and Catherine Johnson in St. Lawrence, Ky. She was the thirteenth child in the family of two boys and 11 girls. The boys were Gerald and Frank. Five of the daughters gave their lives as vowed religious to the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph and the Sisters of Charity of Nazareth, Ky. These were Ursulines: Sister David Marie, Sister Rose Theresa and Sister Rose Karen; and Charities: Sister Marie and Sister Catherine. Six more daughters were Victoria, Mary Evelyn (or Evelyne), Stella, Mary Elizabeth, Theresa and Maxie.
Mary Elenee was baptized on Saturday, December 14, 1940, at Saint Lawrence Church in St. Lawrence, Ky. Seven years later, she was confirmed on May 22, 1947, at the same church.
After completing elementary school at St. Lawrence, Mary Ellenee began her secondary studies in 1954 at St. William in Knottsville. She attended school for two-and-a-half years. It was at the end of 1956 that she heard the call to religious life.
Mary Elenee enrolled at Mount Saint Joseph Academy in January 1957, and on February 1 one year later in 1958, became a postulant with the Ursuline Sisters of Mount Saint Joseph. She entered the novitiate on August 14, 1958, becoming Sister Rose Karen.
She graduated from the Academy in May of 1960 and began her teaching career just three months later. She taught or was a principal in schools in Kentucky and Missouri.
She was a parish minister at St. Michael Parish, Bedford, Ind., a pastoral associate at St. Joseph Parish, Central City, Ky., and did Healing Touch Therapy at St. Joseph Catholic Center in Greenville, Ky. She was one of the driving forces of developing a strong Ursuline Associate program in Muhlenberg County, Ky.
While ministering at the Mount, she was assistant local superior, and director of Transportation. After retiring in 2015, she was an information receptionist substitute, and a crocheter of filter covers for the organization, Water With Blessings.
Sister Rose Karen, 83, died January 15, 2024, at Mount Saint Joseph in her 66th year of religious life. Mass of the Resurrection was at 10:30 a.m. on Thursday, January 25, 2024, in Mount Saint Joseph Chapel. The burial was in the convent cemetery.